Their Secret
by Lel0uch Vi Britannia
Summary: They have a secret. She wants it to stay a secret. He wants to apologize about it. Aureliashipping AshxLillie. AU (Sinnoh-to-Alola-verse) Hiatus
1. The Secret

**AU story, you'll know as you read. Aureliashipping, AshxLillie**

 **This story got enough positive attention, so I'll be continuing it. But first, I fixed some errors to the first chapter.**

 **UPDATED: 03/18/2018**

* * *

Mallow heard the last bell of the day rung through the entire school. After the bell was heard, every student in the building started gathering their school supplies into their backpacks before leaving. As she walks towards her desk to get her backpack, her friend Lillie said one last thing before leaving the room.

"Thanks for helping me tonight, Mallow." The blonde said her gratitude to her friend as she motions to the capsule that is currently in Mallow's arms. "It puts my mind at ease to know that you will be helping me. I'll meet you outside."

"No problem!" Mallow yells just so Lillie could hear her since the blonde-haired girl has already left the classroom.

Today, their class was given an assignment to take of a Pokémon egg, which is currently in incubation inside the capsule. The class had a small problem of how they would taking care of the egg when they are not in school. Mallow volunteered Lillie with the task of taking care of the Pokémon egg outside of school as a way to help with her phobia. The blonde bookworm was reluctant at first, but she quickly gathered enough courage to take on that task.

Mallow, being a good friend, wants to help her out for being so brave. So, the chef offered to help on the first night, which Lillie was grateful for.

When the chef got her backpack on, she head towards the door, but she stopped when she notices that Ash Ketchum, her new classmate, is waiting for her at the door. Everyone else has already left the classroom, it is just the two of them in the classroom.

Ash looks outside the classroom, making sure there is no one in halls nearby. The raven haired teen then motions Pikachu and the Rotomdex to leave the room, which they did. The Rotomdex was confused at first, but complied nonetheless while Pikachu followed his command with no hesitation.

Mallow raises an eyebrow. "Ash?" She said, "Do you need something?"

Ash just stood for a moment with a solemn look to gather his thoughts before talking.

"Can we talk?" He asked with a sober voice, "It's about Lillie."

"Huh?" Mallow blinked in confusion, "What about her? Oh! If it's about the egg, don't worry. I'll make sure that-"

"It's not about that." Ash cuts her off, "Look... you see... how do I explain this."

The chef notices how the energetic trainer started to get nervous, which is so unlike him. He starts breaking eye contact, his speech is stuttering, and he is rubbing the back of his neck. She does not like the signs.

Mallow frowns at him, "Ash, did something bad happened between you and Lillie?"

"What?" The raven-haired trainer look back at her. "No! No. Nothing bad happen. Well, it's sort of is... but I guess it depends on how you see."

Mallow put on a determined look, "Whatever it is, you can tell me and I'll help you out." She told him with a supportive smile.

Ash looks at his classmate with a hesitant look for a minute before giving in.

"Alright, but first, can you promise something?"

"Hmmm? What is it?"

Ash motions around the entire classroom, "Whatever I'm about to say to you, it must never, and I repeat, MUST NEVER leaves this room."

Mallow gives him a stern look, "Hai! I promise." She salute while balancing the capsule with one arm.

Ash took a deep breath, "Remember the very day I first came to this school, before I started attending the Kukui-sensei's class?"

"Yes." She answered simply and quick, anxious to know what the raven-haired trainer is talking about and what is bothering him. She is also anxious to know how Lillie is involved in this.

"I first met Lillie before I was introduced to the rest of you."

"Yes, we all know that." She urged him to get on with it.

"On that day, me and Lille kissed."

"... ... ..."

"... ... ..."

"... ... ..."

"... ... ..."

"YOU KI-!?

Ash was fortunate to place his hand on her mouth on time. The expression on his face, when Mallow almost screamed out his secret, looked like he was experiencing a heart attack.

"Shhhhhh! Quiet! I don't want anyone else finding out and I'm sure Lillie doesn't want that either."

Mallow nodded before Ash removes his hand from her mouth.

"You two kissed?" She asked quieter, "When you guys first met? At that time? But I was there! Lana was there! Even Sophocles was there! How could we have not seen that?" Her body shake with each sentence.

Ash chuckles nervously at that question, "Have you seen how big Lillie's hat is?"

That hit her like a ton of bricks. She blushes out of embarrassment when she did not realized the obvious answer to her own question.

"So how come you two kissed?" She questioned before a thought came into her mind. She starts glaring at Ash with squinted eyes, "Wait a minute. Did you kiss her?"

"Woah!" Ash held his arms up defensively, not liking that look on Mallow's face. "Why does it sound like that you're accusing me?"

"Because Lillie is not that kind of girl!" Mallow said with an intimidating voice as she took a step towards the trainer from Pallet Town.

Ash quickly shields himself behind his arms, "It was an accident!"

Mallow drop the glare and put on a confused look, "An accident?"

"Yes." Ash confirmed as he quickly explains, "After I got ran over by those Tauros, Lillie wanted to make sure if I was okay! I was about to answer her, but one of the Tauros headbutted her from behind and...well you know the rest."

Mallow has a look of understanding when she remembered that particular Tauros, "I see." She sighed as she nodded, "So how come you two didn't show any reaction to that kiss? I mean, Lillie got scared to that Tauros instead."

A small smile of relief appeared on Ash's face.

"Exactly. I guess you can say that we were saved from embarrassment by Lillie's fear of Pokémon." Ash answered her with a chuckle, "Because, you know, that Tauros did touch her."

The chef mentally slaps herself, "I completely forgot about that." She sighs before looking back at Ash, "So why bring it up now?"

Ash sighed from anxiety before answering. "I think Lillie's mad at me."

The green haired girl raised an eyebrow. "Mad at you? Lillie's a sweet girl, she would never-!" Suddenly a thought went through Mallow's mind, "Wait, have you two talk about that kiss?"

Ash nodded. "That's the thing, we haven't talk about it yet. Which is why I need your help."

"Mind explaining?"

Ash shakes his head with a frown, "I tried to talk to her about it several times before, but every time I mentioned the word 'kiss', she makes up some sort of excuse and leaves the room or goes to you and Lana. The rest of the time, she acts like that kiss never happened while she tries to avoid me. It almost feels like she acts like I don't even exist." His voice filled with disappointment.

Mallow frowns when she hear the sadness in Ash's words. He speaks the truth when he said that Lillie has been avoiding him ever since he started attending their school. The only times Lillie acknowledges Ash is when everyone in class are close together, but even during those times she avoids Ash as much as she could. The young chef has always thought it was because of her friend's shy personality and the fact that Ash keeps a energetic Pokémon around him does not help with any interaction between them, but it seems her reason is much deeper.

"I see. So that's why she's been avoiding you. I always thought it was because Pikachu was always with you." Mallow murmurs, "Is that why you tried to help her on that fishing assignment with that Milotic? So she could warm up to you?"

"Yeah," Ash said, "I really don't want things to be awkward between us. I tried to fix things, but she still ignores me when I try to bring up that kiss, which is why I need your help."

Mallow smiles at Ash's honesty, which she always admires.

"Ash, what you're doing is honorable, but you should've told me about this earlier. I could have helped you and your situation if you did and settle things a lot sooner, but you don't have to worry anymore. I'll go talk to Lillie about it."

"No!" Ash yelled, surprising the chef, "If you talk to her, she'll find out that I told you about the kiss and might end up getting mad at me more."

Mallow giggles at Ash's exaggeration. Although it is true that Lillie will probably catch on pretty quick that Ash spoke to Mallow about that kiss since neither Ash or Lillie have not told anybody else until today when Mallow found out their secret from the raven-haired trainer.

"Ash, like I said before, Lillie's a sweet girl. She hardly gets mad at anyone." She assures him.

"Still, I don't want to risk it," He admits his fear. "Which is why I want to talk to her myself."

Seeing that he wants to do this himself, Mallow nodded in understanding, "So what can I do to help, then?"

Ash smiles, "Can you think up of an excuse that you can't make it to her house tonight?" He asked. "That way, I can fill in for you while I get enough time to talk to her since it is her house."

Mallow was not so sure of his plan

"You sure that plan can work?" She asked, "Lillie could ask the others to fill in for me."

Ash grins, "Already got that covered. Kiawe told me that he is busy today with deliveries, Lana has doubled her training time with Popplio's bubbles, and Sophocles-"

"Is always busy after school!" Mallow finished for him as she snaps her fingers. "Of course!"

"See? This plan is foolproof." Ash said with a grin.

Mallow's smile slowly deteriorated as a thought came to mind. "Wait, what's stopping her from ignoring you? She could also have you kick out of her house."

Despite that convincing possibility, Ash's grin did not waver. "Don't worry, I got a plan for that. Now lets go, we don't want to keep Lillie waiting."

She nodded, "Alright, I'll leave it up to you, Ash."

* * *

Ash Ketchum, for once in his life, is glad that he did not encounter his friend, Brock Slate, in a new region, but at the same time he wishes that he was here. He is desperately in need of guidance for his current situation.

He usually gets battling advice from the far more experienced Pokémon Trainer and Breeder with some food on the side which he gratefully appreciated. However, if there was one thing that did he not want to learn from his friend was his teachings of how to approach the opposite sex.

Being 10-years old when he first started, he met plenty of females in his first year of being a Pokémon Trainer, but he viewed them as boys who just like to wear pretty dresses, put on scented perfume, and wear skirts most of the time. He used to wonder why Brock would profess his love to every pretty women he sees. Whatever the reason was, he was not interested if he ends up looking like a fool when Brock does it.

However, he soon found out that reason. Giselle, that name still lingers through his mind to this day. After all, she was his first love and who could blame him? The last time he saw her, she was the most beautiful girl he ever saw. She has gorgeous, long, silky brown hair, which is what caught his eyes in the first place. What really made him fall in love with her was her body; despite being young, she had already started blossoming into a young woman's body. She has a curvaceous body that can make other girls her age jealous, since she could swoon boys by just simply showing them her beauty without much effort.

After his encounter with Giselle, he has lost some respect for Brock. After reflecting on how he was acting when he first laid his eyes on Giselle, he berated himself for two reasons. For one: he treated Giselle like a piece of candy and not view her as a person; she may have had a foul personality, but she is still a human being, not an item that could be easily be replaced. With that thought, he felt remorseful for all the women that Brock flirted with, no one should be treated like that. The other was how he made a fool of himself, he was supposed to be helping, not stand there and make goo-goo eyes.

He was no worse than Brock!

Ever since then, he swore to himself to never act like that again and never treat girls like eye candy. Although, his tomboy of a friend, Misty, makes it hard for him to treat her as a woman. None the less, he still gives respect to the opposite sex, unless they disrespected him for good reason. Even though he told himself to treat women like he would with any people, there were actual times that he eyed at them, but quickly shake that feeling off by reminding himself to keep his promise, which is why he tend to train his Pokemon a lot to get his mind out of it or just look the other way.

Thanks to his own promise, the people around him would view him to be a very dense teenage boy who has yet to reach puberty, even though he already mentally and physically did. He was alright with that, he rather be seen as a dense person than a pervert.

When he had those rare fights with his previous two female companions, he felt awful afterwards. To this day, he still regret those petty arguments and even believes he is the one who is the cause of their fight. Even when May and Dawn said that they already forgave him, he wanted to take responsibility of his own actions. Ash has still not forgotten his show of apologies to his female companions. After his first argument with May, she had him pay the bill at a really expensive restaurant after filling her bottomless stomach; that was definitely not Ash's night, especially when he found himself not eating one dish and finding his Trainer's Bank account having a rather large hole. It was worse with Dawn, she had him go shopping with her; like before, his bank account was depleted to a whole new low and he spent the whole day carrying shopping bags full of clothes without any form of help. Still, he was glad to made amends with them.

Now here he is, seeking forgiveness from an almost reclusive girl. The trainer from Pallet town has been hiding a frown every time he saw her get along with the others and not with him. He knew he has screwed badly, even if it was an accident. He could have done it sooner, but that was not before he made his mind up to stay in Alola to attend the Pokémon School. He thought that accidental kiss could easily be put behind them since he was only there temporarily on vacation, but he thought badly. When he learned that he will be in the same class as her, he tried to apologized to her right way, but she scurried away when he mentioned that kiss.

He had to fix this!

* * *

 **Several Hours Later**

 _"That's a heartwarming scene."_ Ash thought with a smile as he continue to watch the scene.

Lillie is blissfully hugging the egg against her chess and has her cheek gently against it, content on enjoying the warmth and feeling the life radiating from the inside of the egg. It is truly a beautiful scene and calming too.

Watching her reminded Ash why he is at her house in the first place. He mentally berates himself from deviating from the plan. His plan was to gradually warm up to her so she would not feel as nervous as those previous times, which is why he tried helping her with her fear of touching Pokémon and complimenting her when given the chance, but his mind just had to wander into battling when his eyes spotted the battlefield outside. Speaking of outside, he notices that the sun is almost setting in the horizon and the sky have a tint of orange. He has to talk to her by today! Who knows when he will get another chance like this again.

He suddenly felt a tug on his shirt. Turning his head, he saw Mallow pointing to Lillie's door. The chef wants to talk to him privately. Quietly, without disturbing Lillie's state of calmness and catching the butler's attention, the two classmates walked outside of Lillie's room.

"I actually came here to see if you needed some help." Mallow explained to him once they were outside of their fellow classmate's room, "How did things go while I wasn't here?"

Ash chuckles sadly, "So far the only thing I was able to do is make progress, nothing else."

"Is she at least not avoiding you?" She wondered.

"No."

"Then this is working perfectly," Mallow smile widely at him. "And I think right now is the perfect time to talk to her!"

"Yeah," He agreed with her as he quickly formulated a plan. "Think you can keep her Hobbs busy?"

Mallow huffed in determination, "No problem. I'll keep him busy for you and I'll make sure to take him somewhere far from here."

* * *

Ash really has to thank Mallow later. In a flash, the chef was able to get the head butler out of the room. Now it was just him and Lillie alone in the room. Well unless you count the Pokémon egg, Pikachu, and the Rotomdex.

He took care of the two latters, "Hey Pikachu, why don't you play with the Pokémon outside." His starter squeak happily before jumping gracefully to the outside. Ash then turns to his living Pokédex, "Aren't you going to join him? There are some Pokémon out there that you could be taking pictures of and collect some info on them."

The Rotomdex was easily persuaded as it floated to the outside.

Ash sighs now that he was finally alone with the blonde girl. He looks at Lillie, who is now sitting on the chair and holding the Pokémon. It almost breaks his heart that he must break the scene, but now is the good time as any.

"Lillie?"

The young lady who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth opens her eyes, but she was still in a blissful state by the looks of her emerald eyes.

Looks back at her classmate,"Yes?"

"We need to talk." He told her with a solemn look.

Lillie finally got out of her trance like state and quickly notices that it is only her and Ash in her own room. She blushes from that fact alone and blushes even more when she saw that Ash was looking directly at her. Into her eyes.

"Where did Mallow go? And Hobbs?"

"They left to prepare for dinner."

Lillie immediately sat up, "M-maybe I should go help out." She quickly heads towards the door.

Before she could make another step forward, she felt a hand grabbing her shoulder. She did not have to guess whose hand it was. Knowing that she will not be heard from all the way in the kitchen, she just stood there blushing. Not wanting to look at him and too embarrassed to talk.

Ash stood in front of her. "Lillie, please." He pleaded as he tip her head up by her chin, trying to make eye contact.

Lillie's blush deepen from the skin contact. Knowing he will not put a stop to this anytime soon, she reluctantly opens her eyes.

Taking a deep breath before reluctantly saying, "Okay."

Ash smiled at her, trying to show her to relax, but it only made her blush more.

In all honesty, most of Lillie's time was studying about Pokémon as a means to overcome her fear of them. She never thinks about the opposite sex with much interest. Until that very day.

That kiss.

Her first kiss.

That boy.

Ash Ketchum.

Having barely any interactions with boys her age, she did not know what to comprehend from that incident. She was glad for once that her fear took over her and hid behind the boy who kissed her. She hoped that she could feign ignorance about that kiss and just leave that part of her life behind and continue on. She was fortunate to have the mental power to get that kiss to the back of her mind by composing herself after Mallow took that boy's hand and took him away. Unfortunately for her, that very same boy decided to attend her school. Not wanting to appear out of place, she acted like how she usually is while also keeping a distance away from him.

She knows that it was an accident, but she is just too embarrassed to even think about it. She does not exactly know what to do. She is too embarrassed to even her ask for advice from her female friends and servants. She tried avoiding Ash so she could finally get that kiss out of her head, but not much success.

When Ash came to her home today, he acted like the kiss never happened and act like his usual himself. It made Lillie relieved, but it was too good to be true.

* * *

 **I'll stop right there. In all honesty, I'm a novice writer even though I have written stories before.**

 **There are probably those with questions, to answer some of those questions, read the top of this chapter. If you're too lazy to go up the page, here's the answer: AU**

 **If this gets enough attention, I'll continue it**


	2. Their Feelings

**Since this got positive reviews, I'll continuing this story.**

 **For those who haven't scene the hints that makes this AU, here's the following.**

 **1.) Ash and his mom won the vacation trip to Alola after Ash returned from Sinnoh**

 **thus...**

 **2.) Ash never went to Unova**

 **in-turn...**

 **3.) Ash never met Alexa, so he did not travel to Kalos either.**

 **4.) Despite skipping two regions from the canon, Ash and his classmates are still the same age as in the anime.**

 **Ages**

 **Ash, Lillie, Mallow, Lana, Sophocles: 16 Years old**

 **Kiawe: 17 Years Old**

 **UPDATED: 04/1/2018**

* * *

The atmosphere was so intense and thick that not even the sound of playing wild Pokémon, that can be heard from the balcony, could break it. The assigned Pokémon egg was left on the chair, that was converted into a makeshift soft bed to keep it warm and from cracking. The trainer from Pallet Town and the blonde bookworm stood still from their position; Ash was trying to make eye contact with her so he can have her full attention when he gives his apology, but Lillie has her eyes locked to the ground with her hands held together over her chess, completely flustered.

"Lillie."

The said girl did not look up, instead she slightly turned to the side.

From her reaction, he must get her attention another way. He decided a simple, 'I'm sorry,' will not do much. Perhaps he should take it up a notch.

Qucikly, he went down to his hands and knees with his head bowed all the way to the ground. His actions shocked Lillie from out of her trance when she saw the experienced Pokémon trainer on the ground.

This surprised her, she did not expected him to do this, "Eh? Ash?"

Ash mentally celebrated when he head that he got her full attention, but quickly stop to do what he had to do.

"I'M SORRY!"

Lillie gasps. He was apologizing. Not knowing him that much since she avoided him ever since he entered into her life from out of nowhere, she half-expected him to apologize, but never like this. She blush, no one has ever apologized to her like this.

"I'M SORRY FOR THAT KISS! I'M SORRY THAT I DIDN'T APOLOGIZE TO YOU SOONER! IT'S ALL MY FAULT!"

Lillie felt her heart crack, she did not know that kiss was also eating him out. Regret started to fill her as she starts to rue all those times she avoided him. Sure she was embarrassed, but Ash must have been feeling terrible ever since then. She was so embarrassed with herself that she did not take his feelings into consideration. She feels horrible, she never wants to hurt anyone.

When Ash lifted his head up, Lillie felt her heart break even more. Ever since she met him, she never saw him so broken before. His face lacks that bright smile of his face and his remorseful eyes really pulled on her heartstrings.

"I'M SO SORRY! I'LL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU! I'LL EVEN LET YOU SLA-!"

Lillie could no longer bare it as she starts shedding tears, "THAT'S ENOUGH!"

"Ah!" Ash gasps as he stood up, seeing that his action made the opposite effect, "You're crying! Oh please don't cry! I'm so-"

He was cut off when Lillie caught him off guard by wrapping arms around, pulling him into an embrace.

Lillie then presses her face against his chess, "Just stop it already!"

It was muffled, but Ash heard and just stop. He stood there, not moving a muscle, waiting for Lillie's words. He soon felt his shirt started to dampen from Lillie's tear. A little uncertain with what he should be doing, he wraps his arms around her, returning the embrace. He rub up and down her back while patting the top of her back, comforting her and trying to make her stop crying.

They stood there motionless in each other's embrace for feels like a century when only minutes has only passed. When Lillie was done, she pulls back from him and pulls out her handkerchief from her skirt-pocket.

She was about to wipe her face when Ash reach his out to the cotton fabric in her hand.

"Let me." He asked.

Lillie stares at him with looks of regret. How could she avoided this kind, young man? He's been nothing, but kind and patient with her and she just ignore him like he does not even exist.

Now, she thought, she will not do that anymore.

"Okay." She let him take the white hankey. She closes her eyes as Ash wipes off the dry tears from her face. After he was done, Lillie took back her handkerchief.

"Thank you."

Ash smiles at her, which she shyly returns. Ash is glad that she is now starting to warm up to him and may even accept his apology.

Lillie then frowns, "Ash, I'm sorry."

"Huh? Why are you sorry?" Ash said with a surprised look and frown, "This is my fault."

"No, it's not!" She tried to tell him, not wanting him to feel downhearted anymore.

"Yes, it is!" Ash tells her, "That kiss wouldn't have even happened if I did not run across the course. So it is my fault."

"Yeah..." Lillie can not disagree with that reason, "but I don't blame you for that!"

"But I still made you uncomfortable, didn't I?"

Lillie fell silent, not sure if she could continue without making Ash blame himself more. She then felt his hands on her shoulder, looking back at him, she saw that Ash has a look of determination.

"If there's anything I can do for you," He started, "Name it and I'll do it to the very end."

Lillie blushes, she never knew that he was this handsome up close. Speaking of up close, this is the first time she is this to close to a boy who is not her older brother. She started to regret to never reading those dating magazines that were offered to her by Mallow, the knowledge inside those thin articles would have been great help with her current situation.

All of her time were spent on studying Pokémon, so she never gave much attention to boys her age ever since she mysteriously developed her phobia. Throughout puberty, her urges were repressed because her mind was always focused on Pokémon; after that incident, all of those repressed urges started to resurface of him and her kissing. Her eyes wanders down to his lips, which are now stern and determine. Her blush deepens when her mind wander back to the kiss.

Even though that kiss lasted a second or two, she could still remembered the sensation of her lips press against someone else's. Before, she never understood the concept of kissing, sure she understands kissing on the cheeks, forehead, and on the back of the hand as shows of affections, but on the lips she did not understand. Initially she was disgusted at the thought of kissing on the lips, but after that experienced, her views started to change.

She actually liked the kiss. And she wants to do it again.

"Ki-kiss me...on my lips."

Ash's eyes widen, "What?" He has to be dreaming he thought.

Lillie look away, her face red in embarrassment, "You said that you'll anything for me."

Ash rubs the back of his head, "Yeah, but...are you sure you want me to do that?"

His classmate thought about it for a second and nods in absolute certainty. Even with that confirmation, Ash is still reluctant to go all the way with that request. Should he do it? If he did, their second kiss might drive them apart even further. If he did not, Ash fears that he will hurt Lillie's feelings. What to do, what to do.

"That was my first kiss."

That brought him out of his thought, "Huh?"

Lillie looks at him with her face flushed, "That kiss, it was my first."

"Oh, I'm so-" Lillie cut him off by pressing a finger against his lips.

"Stop it," She said which was almost an order. After she removed her finger, she continues to speak, "Since you're my first,...I think I'll be okay with...kissing you."

That still did not make Ash any less reluctant, "Al-alright, I'll do it." but he soon complied.

Wanting to make this feel less awkward, Lillie wraps her arms around his neck albeit blushing. Ash blushes from the touch, sure Lillie hugged him not too long ago, but it was not skin-on-skin contact.

 _"She feels soft."_ He thought. He then mentally slaps himself, _"No! Don't think like that! She's a person, not a thing!"_

"Yo-you can ki-kiss me now." Lillie told him as she closes her eyes with her lips slightly puckered.

He wraps his arms around her waist, "R-right."

Ash uncertainly, but lightly presses his lips against hers. When Lillie felt his lips, she instinctively returns it. It is just like before, only longer this time, giving them time to enjoy this one.

Ash's mind almost went wild, but thanks to years of controlling his urges, he has the mental power to control over his desires. He thought her skin was soft, but her lips are at a whole new level. His tongue instinctively slips into the small opening of her mouth, but Ash quickly retracted it back; even so, he still got a taste of her.

She tasted sweet, _"Control yourself, Ash. Control yourself"_ He told himself in his mind.

Lillie is enjoying herself. Although embarrassed at first, she soon relaxed and enjoys the kiss. While Ash's lips are lightly pressing against hers, she can tell his are rough, yet she strangely likes it. She then felt something foreign momentarily entered her mouth, Ash's tongue which immediately went back. Disappointment filled her, getting barely a taste of him.

Ash soon broke the kiss, "Was that okay?"

Lillie pants lightly from that short time of no air, "Yes."

Despite sounding it was already over, they were still in each other's arms and their lips were merely inches away from each other. An invisible force soon pulled the two together; this time the two meet each other in the middle with their lips more open than before. It was a full blown kiss.

Unlike the previous one, this was more passionate and heated. Despite that, Ash was holding back his urges, but that control soon disappears when he felt Lillie's tongue pocking into his mouth, wanting to enter. As her tongues pokes in, it briefly brushes against his. When Ash got her taste, his urges finally took control. Parting his lips open, he let her tongue in.

Lillie's tongue is smaller and softer compared to his and it eagerly explores his mouth, but her little exploration only lasted a single second before her tongue got fully dominated over by Ash's. The male teen enjoys her taste so much that he lick every corner of her mouth from the roof of her mouth to under her tongue while also roughly treating Lillie's tongue. Lillie moan from feeling her tongue being treated so roughly; she tried to fight back, but Ash's is just too strong for her, yet she enjoys it as she still get to taste Ash.

The two soon speared for the lack of oxygen. A thin strand of their mixed saliva connected the two by their tongue for a moment before severing. Once they filled up their lungs with air, they completely separated from their embrace. Silence soon follows

Despite the silence, Ash has a smile on his face with a distant expression, "That... sure was... something."

Lillie giggles, "Yeah." Her voice sounded distant, her mind reminiscing over their third kiss.

More silence follows until the door opens and coming in is their friend.

"Hey guys!" Mallow waves to them when she entered the room, "Dinner's ready."

The chef frowns when she notices that her friends were not acknowledging her entrance into the room; Ash did not even get excited over the mention of food.

"Well... lets eat, I guess." Ash nervously said. He motions her to the door, wanting her to go first.

Lillie smiles at him before getting the Pokémon egg into her arms, "Oh... yes. Time to eat." She walks out the door without saying or acknowledging the green-haired girl.

"What... happened here?" Mallow tried to ask Ash, but the raven-haired boy said nothing to her as well.

The chef huffs at their rudeness, "Geez."

* * *

 **Up next, we'll see how those two kisses will affect their relationship.**


	3. What Next?

**IMPORTANT NOTE! ! ! ! !**

 **Don't worry, this is also chapter.**

 **First, I would like to sat that I'm happy to know my story is going somewhere and getting great reviews and many views from you readers. Good to know there's plenty of Aureliashippers. I thought there weren't because there's only a handful of fics of the two.**

 **Second, I'm planning to deviate from the Anime plot-line. I'll still have Ash collect all the Z-crystals since that is what he's planning to do, so I'll be implementing the episodes he earns those Z-crystals or make a whole new one to fit with this story.**

 **I heard about Lillie's egg is going to hatch soon in a couple of Episodes, I might follow that episode depending if I like it or not, but seeing how great her character development is doing, I'll probably follow that episode and any other important episodes and apply my own stuff into them if necessary. I have more plans, but I wont be spoiling them.**

 **Enjoy the chapter**

 **UPDATE: 04/01/2018**

* * *

 **Hallway**

Mallow was walking behind her classmates by a few feet, looking at them with a contemplating expression. She wonders if the plan worked because right now she could not make heads or tails on the matter. During the seemingly long walk to the dining room, Mallow would notice Lillie inching a little closer to Ash, who would stroke the egg in Lillie's arms occasionally. They seem close, but they have not said a single word since they left the room they were previously in.

That begs the question _, "What happened back there?"_ Mallow thought, somewhat worried for her friends. _"And why isn't Ash telling me anything?"_

She tried asking them a couple of questions, but they continued to ignore her, much to her chagrin. A blush of anger appear on her face as it also twisted into a vexed look.

 _"Lillie, as a good friend, you're lucky that I won't be going up your business,"_ Mallow thought about her friend, _"but for you, Ash Ketchum, you're definitely going to spill the beans or else!"_

* * *

 **Dining Room**

 _"Okay, something definitely happened back there."_

When they got to the dining room with the really long dinner table, the weirdest thing happened: Ash did not go excited over the site of all the perfectly prepared food on the table. After getting to know him from the past month, Mallow finds that quite weird.

Instead, Ash generously pulls out a chair for Lillie before Hobbs the butler could it for her.

"Here, Lillie."

"Such a gentleman," Lillie comment with a big smile and a slight blush. She sat down, "Thank you."

Ash sat on the chair next to her, "You're welcome."

Lillie's butler blink from seeing how they were interacting right now was different hours ago. Sure he saw his young mistress and her classmate getting along, but not this close. He turned to Mallow, who shrugs at him. Putting a hand on his chin, he has a pretty good idea what is going on, but believed he should observe first before jumping into any conclusions.

Since the chairs were cushioned, Lillie places the egg on the other chair next to her. "Hobbs, can you help keep an eye on my egg?"

"Of course, Miss Lillie." He obediently obeyed as he stood next to the egg.

"Wow, there's sure a lot of food." Ash would have been drooling by now, but kept his mouth close, which is another thing Mallow finds weird. When was Ash this polite she thought.

Speaking of the green-haired chef, she sat across the table from her friends, looking at them with a calculating look. Even with her in front of them, they still did not acknowledge which continues to irk her.

"I see Maria **(Her** **maid)** made her special spaghetti," Lillie points out before turning to the boy next to her. "Try it out, Ash. It's really good."

"Okay, I will." He followed her suggestion as he filled up most of his plate with the pasta before grabbing some sides.

When they all got their first serving of food, they all chanted, "Thanks for the food!"

Before Mallow could get her first bite of her food, her jaw drop on the table for the various reasons below.

Ash was eating at a slow pace, as slow as Lillie's right now. Ash, the slob, who would just vacuum down everything in his plate in mere seconds, is actually taking the time to enjoy his food and showing proper etiquette at a dinner table with his back straight, eating quietly, and occasionally ask politely for something far from his reach when his mouth is not full of food. Honestly, Mallow is not the only one surprise, Hobbs was surprised by Ash's manners.

Is this really the same boy who ate the small mountain of macarons in under five minutes, which came into his mind.

And here comes the kicker with Lillie, "Oh Ash, you have some sauce on your face." She said with a giggle.

Ash swallows the food in his mouth before saying, "Really?"

When it was pointed out, he now felt the tomato-based sauce on his cheek. He was about to pick up his napkin, but Lillie beat him to it. The blonde slightly dampen a paper napkin with her tongue before wiping it on Ash's face.

"Here, let me."

Ash blushes slightly from the gesture, but smiles nonetheless as Lillie wipes off the red sauce on his cheek.

"Miss Mallow, I suggest you eat before the food gets cold," Hobbs advised her, "At least close your mouth before a Zubat finds its way in there."

 _ **Later**_

When everyone had their fill, the maid came and started gathering all of the dirty dishes. Lillie picks up her egg before standing up with Ash and Mallow from the table.

Now that they were done, Mallow was about to speak up her mind when...

"Mind accompanying me to my bedroom?"

The chef gasps. Did Lillie just invite Ash to her private room? This is definitely not the Lillie she knew from childhood. From her knowledge about her friend, Lillie has never shown any interests in boys before because she was always focus in her studies. Just how close are the two after so little alone time together?

"Sure." Ash said with a smile before following her out of the room. Again, showing his gentle side, he opens the door for her which she gives a small giggle of appreciation.

 _"Her room!? No! It... it can't be! Th-that_ 's _too soon!"_ Jason screamed inside his head. Due to his mental distress, he missed the opportunity to stop them from leaving.

The young lady bringing a boy to her room, that could mean...

 _"I might need to contact Lady Lusamine on this."_

* * *

 **Lillie** **'s Room**

"Thanks for helping me out today, Ash." Lillie started once they entered her room, which unsurprisingly has a large bookshelf filled completely with book of varying size and color. There is desk with a swivel chair and a laptop on top of the desk, which is obviously where she studies. Lillie sat on her bed with the egg still in her arms.

Ash sat on her chair "No problem," He replies with a smile. "I raised a couple of Pokémon from eggs before, so I thought I could be a big help."

Lillie giggle at his enthusiasm and is slightly intrigued that he raised a couple of Pokemon egg. Soon silence loomed over the two.

Ash silently gulps, worrying that the quietness is due to Lillie's shyness around him. He was about to speak up again when he heard it.

Giggles.

Lillie was giggling and by the sounds of it, she's failing to hold back all of her laughter. It looks like her laughter was contagious Ash snorts before laughing out loud himself. Hearing him laugh, Lillie give up her resistance and laugh hysterically herself. Luckily, Lillie has a good grip on the egg incubator or else she would have dropped it.

 _HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ! ! ! !_ Filled the room.

"I-I, I can't be-believe..!" Lillie tried to speak, but her voice was caught by all the laughs, "We were... able to... sur-vive that long!"

"I know, right!?" Ash snickers out, holding his side.

Lillie took a moment to catch up with her breathing, "They didn't even suspect a thing!" She then continues to laugh.

Ash, however, stops and a frown appears on her face. Lillie soon notices that he stopped laughing.

She also stops laughing, "Ash?"

"Uh... I think... Mallow might suspect something." He hesitantly admits.

Lillie blink, clearly to confused to what he means, "Hmmm?"

Ash looks down on her floor, "I might have...told her about...our first kiss."

Lillie's face then light up brightly as Lana's face when she was told that embarrassing question from her younger twin sister.

"W-wh-what!?"

"But don't worry! I told her not to tell anyone else!" He assures her.

Lillie held her chest with one hand as if she almost died from a heart attack while muttering, "Thanks goodness." She took slow deep breathes to calm herself down. After gathering her wits, she looks up at Ash, "So Mallow was never busy at the cafeteria?"

"Yeah, I asked her to help me get close to you."

"I see," Lillie said quietly. She did had a thought on how her friend was acting weird after school. It all makes sense now.

"Speaking of which," Ash started with a smile, after noticing Lillie got quiet. "I'm glad we were able to sort things out."

She frowns at him which he notices and got a frown himself, "Didn't we?"

"Ash," She started, "We kissed... three times already, where does that leave us at?"

After their latest smooch, a lot of things were going through their respective minds. That latest one was much more passionate then their previous two, what does that mean? Can they really become friends after that? Can they really see each other as friends knowing that they have kissed more than once?

"I...I don't know..." Ash said with honesty, "I mean... I never kissed a girl before."

Lillie's eyes widen slightly, "So...I'm your first kiss?"

"Well..." In his mind, various images of girl's faces appear his cheek. "On the lips? Yes." Mentioning their names is probably not a good idea.

Lillie mentally gasps inside her mind. She was his first kiss? Well...what a coincident.

"So... where does this leave us?" Ash repeated Lillie's question.

"I don't know either, I never had these kind of feelings before," Lillie admits with her hands on her chest as a small shade of red then appears on her face. "However..."

"What?" Ash urges her to continue when he notices she suddenly got quiet in the middle of her sentence. He really wants to fix this as soon as possible.

"I've been thinking about it during dinner...and..."

"Well? Well?" Ash really does not want her to feel uncomfortable around him, but being an amateur when it comes to love and dating, he is really desperate for any possible solution to this situation.

"I... IWANTTOGIVEUSACHANCE!" Lillie then covers her face the braids of her hair.

Ash has a look of stupor as he was not sure what he heard, although he did understood her entire sentence despite it was said in under a second. She did not just...?

"Um...what?"

"Please don't make me repeat it." Lillie begged behind her hair.

Ash gulps, not sure if he should continues. He's suppose to clear things up between, not make things more complicated. Although... he did promise her to do anything she wants, but...

"Why?"

"... ... ..." The blonde was quiet.

"Lillie? Please answer me"

"... I really hate my fear."


	4. Her Mother and Brother

**Note: As the title of this chapter say, this only about Lusamine and Gladion. As I said in the previous chapter, I'm deviating some parts of the anime and Lillie's family and the Aether Foundation will definitely be deviating from the plotline, I won't say much because it might spoil things.**

 **Although, I will say this: I, and of course all of us, don't know what caused Lillie's fear of Pokemon as of right now, but I'm having my own interpretation in this story.**

 **UPDATED: 04/01/2018**

* * *

 ***Ring*** ***Ring*** ***Ring*** ***Ring***

A woman with extremely long and large mass of blonde hair stops typing on her keyboard and looks away from the screen of her laptop to her personal cell phone that is close by.

She picks it up with a confused expresstion, _"Who would be calling at this time?"_ Sure she gets many calls in a single day, but she rarely get calls at night. She answers it, "Hello?"

"Good evening, Lady Lusamine. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

The woman, now known as Lusamine, gave a delightful gasp, "Oh! Jason! How are you and how is Lillie doing?"

"About your daughter..." The butler on the other line started, but quickly became quiet.

The smile on Lusamine's face falters into a frown. Worry starts to fill her as an unsettling feeling forms at the pit of her stomach. Her delicate, young and precious daughter, what happened?

"Hmmm? What about my daughter? Did something happened?" She asks frantically

"That depends on how you see, milady. You see..."

Lusamine stands up from her work desk, ready to run out of her job and hop onto the nearest helicopter.

"Go on." The mother urges him to continue.

"...Miss Lillie brought home a boy from her class and at the dinner table... she seems quite smitten with him."

The matriarch of the Aether family froze in place, her heart stopping for a moment due to the shock.

"Oh... I see." Lusamine sat back down on her chair. She did expect her day to turn up like this. It was like any usual busy day at her work, but suddenly, out of nowhere she finds out her daughter brought home a boy to her personal mansion.

"...Would you like a full report of everything I learned about him?"

"... ...Tell me EVERYTHING you know." She orders him.

"From what I gather, the young man's name is Ash Ketchum and despite attending the same school as Miss Lillie, he's a Pokémon trainer for more than 5 years now and has traveled to four regions throughout his career."

The butler was about to give out more information, but his mistress cut him off.

"He's a trainer?"

"Yes, milady."

"You've told me enough." She hung off without saying anything else.

Lusamine slammed her cell phone, nearly the cracking the whole screen. She jump from her seat, not believing her own actions. The president of the Aether Foundation slowly took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She can not believe her own daughter did not tell her about this Ash Ketchum.

Lusamine turns her attentions back to her laptop with a determined look on her face. There is no way she is letting her daughter date a boy that she has never met or heard of before from her daughter. Lillie has always told her of everyone in her class ever since her daughter started attending the Pokemon School. Clearly something happened between her and this mysterious young man, that fact alone makes her weary with this unknown boy. She opens up a new window and types in 'Ash Ketchum' on the search engine and clicks on a site that said 'Trainers' Page' with the boy's name.

"Lets see who you are, Ash Ketchum."

 **Ashura Satoshi Ketchum**

 _"Ashura, hmmm? What a pleasant name... but does that fit with his personality?"_

 **Regional Home: Kanto**

 **Home Town/City: Pallet Town**

 _"Kanto?"_ From that information alone, she is starting to not like this Ash Ketchum. From what she has heard, Kanto is not that great of a region when it comes to Pokemon Trainers. A majority of Pokemon abusers are trainers from that very region and many poachers also reside there. She has even heard of the evil organization known as Team Rocket. All those negative aspects of Kanto has made the region the last place she will take vacation to nor does she want her kids to go there.

 **Goal: Pokemon Master**

 _"A battler."_ Being a pacifist, Lusamine does not like Pokémon battlers one bit, but she, herself, know that there is nothing she could do about it since it is integrated into society.

She continued reading the entire Trainer Page of Ash Ketchum.

* * *

 **After completely reading everything in Ash's Trainer Page**

Lusamine presses a button on her desk that conjures up a hologram video of her secretary.

"Gladice?"

Her secretary looks at her boss from hearing her name. "Yes, Ma'am?"

"Is my son still here?" Lusamine questioned.

"Yes Ma'am. Right now he's surveying all the Pokémon in the Conservation area."

"Good. Tell him to come straight to my office right away." She ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am. Right away." Gladice obeyed as she picks up a high-tech looking handheld transceiver.

"Also tell him to bring Type:Null with him." She also ends the call without saying a parting word.

 **15 Minutes Later**

"Good evening, mother."

Coming into the president's office was the son with a smile on his face. Like his mother and sister, he shares the same hair color and eye color. The only difference is the hair-style, which he keeps it shorter, with the exception of the right side of his bangs that he keeps long to completely cover his eye and almost the side of his face. Another difference is that he is wearing a black vest suite with a button-up white shirt underneath, matching black pants, and a red tie instead of wearing any light or white clothing like his mother and sister.

"Hello sweetie." Lusamine replied with a smile. "Get a haircut."

Gladion scoffs with a smile as he rolls his eyes. He knows his mother does not really like his sense of fashion with it having a Gothic feeling to it. At least he's wearing a suit right now and not that tear up hoodie that he wears casually when he is outside of work.

Despite what seems to be an order, his mother is actually fooling around and she always tells him to cut his hair every time he enters her office as a joke. Although the joke is getting old.

Gladion places his left hand over his eye that is being covered by his long bangs. "No, mother. Now, I'm sure you did not call me to just to fool around."

Lusamine giggles. Getting into business, huh? _"That's my boy."_

"Where's Type:Null? I asked for him to come as well."

"He's in his Pokeball, mother." Gladion told her as he sat on the swivel chair in front of Lusamine's desk. "Training all day really took a lot out of him."

"Well then, he must be really hungry then. Take him out for a moment." Lusamine requested as she pulls out a jar from a drawer of her desk.

Gladion did what he was told and pulls out a Pokeball. Coming out of the small, spherical device was a real monster of a Pokemon, a chimera to be exact. Like a true chimera, it has various body parts that are mix-match. What made this Pokemon even more horrifying is its helmet, which made its eyes intimidating. To top it all of, coming out of the helmet is a part of its head that is an axe-like blade. Strangely though, the two humans in the room showed no fear, in fact, they have smiles on.

Sniffing sounds were heard from under the helmet of the chimeric Pokemon. The smell lured its attention to the jar in Lusamine's hands. Its fish-like tail wagged much like a dog before approaching his master's mother.

Type:Null obediently sat in front of Lusamine, who smiled. After pulling out a rainbow-colored bean from the jar, Lusamine opened a small hatch on the chimera's helmet that _he_ _kindly_ designed to the helmet. With the hatch to its mouth now open, Type:Null happily ate the whole bean before being fed more beans of various colors and patterns.

"So what do you need with Null?" Gladion asked with a smile.

"First, I would like to talk to you about your sister," Gladion's smile immediately disappears. "Don't worry, she wont be seeing Null anytime soon."

"Right." Gladion said with some sadness in his voice. Type:Null senses its master's sorrow. It trot over to him to comfort the blonde boy, who smiled at the kind gesture and, in return, he pat the axe-like head.

"Some time ago, a new male student started attending the Pokemon School and is Lillie's class." Lusamine explained to her son.

Gladion glared from hearing male, "Is this guy trouble?"

"Not exactly. No," Lusamine assures him. "However, trouble seems to follow him. Poor boy."

"Care to elaborate?" Gladion kindly asked, hatred now gone from his voice and now more interested.

"Ash Ketchum, which is the boy's name, has some...stalkers."

Gladion raise an eyebrow. "Stalkers?"

"Yes," Lusamine confirmed before continuing. "Have you heard about the organization known as Team Rocket?"

Gladion immediately started to seethe in anger. Feeling its master's anger, Null gave a growl.

"How can I not? You and I have heard what those scum have done."

Lusamine would have shown disapproval at her son's language, but she agreed with the way he sees Team Rocket. Scum.

"Well a small team from that very organization has been following this poor boy for quite a while and are intending to steal his Pokemon," Lusamine informed him before giving him and Type:Null a look of approval. "You know what to do."

Gladion smirks before looking at his partner, "Looks like you'll be able to get of here a lot sooner, Null."

Type:Null gave a bark to show off his happiness, knowing that it will get to see the outside world.

"However, you must follow some ground rules." Lusamine told him with some authority in her voice, which the two listened to. "You must fight them unseen from bystanders, especially Lillie."

"Yes, mother. I understand." He said with a nod.

"You will follow Ash Ketchum since he seems to be goal for this team, but don't let him see you either." Gladion also agreed to that rule. "You will start tomorrow, so rest up until then. I'll give you more info on the small Rocket group tomorrow."

Gladion nodded again before he returning his partner to its Pokeball and then proceeds to leave the room.

"Wait, Gladion." She halted him, although she wonders if she should tell him. She has seen how overprotective he can be with his sister, but she knew he will find out. It might as well be right now.

"What is it, mother?" He turned to her from the door.

"There's one more thing about Ash Ketchum... Lillie has a crush on him."

"What!?" Gladion screamed in shock. Astonishment was soon replaced by rage.

"I haven't met him face-to-face yet, but I have already considered giving him my blessing." Lusamine admitted with a straight face.

"WHAT!?" Now he felt betrayed.

 ***Ring* *Ring* *Ring***

Lusamine answered her cell phone once again.

"Hello?...I see. Thank you for informing me." Lusamine ended the call, once again with no form of goodbye. "And she's going on a date with him soon."

"WHAT! ! ! ? ?"

* * *

 **If you read carefully and you'll notice that Ash has been a trainer for 5 years now. Before you ask, yes he's aging like he's suppose to. Five years, that means Ash is at least 16 (it was hinted that he was almost 11 years at the beginning of the series) in this case which also mean his classmate are also around the same age, except for Kiawe since he looks like a year older, so 17 years old.**

 **I know we have seen at least one poacher and a Pokemon abuser in each series, but if you ask me, Kanto seems to have the majority of them, especially since Team Rocket is based there and growing faster compared to the other evil organizations.**

 **I got a feeling we wont be seeing any poachers in Alola since the Tapu guardians are there to protect the islands.**

 **Lusamine already giving Ash her blessing, WHAT!? And she knows about Team Rocket!? All of this will be explained later, but I'm sure a lot of you readers might have already figured out the reason.**

 **As you can see, Lillie's family is pretty much normal. I have a feeling there is nothing wrong with Lillie's family in the anime, with the exception of the the three known family members being separated, but that seems to be pretty normal since her family is rich.**

 **Next chapter, we will be seeing what happened at Lillie's mansion during this chapter. We will still see a little of Gladion and Lusamine.**


	5. Plans

**Episode 14, it seems to be focus more on Lillie and Alolan Vulpix with Ash barely with them. I'm definitely remaking the whole episode, but not too much.**

 **Also, I'm sort of unstable emotionally right now due to lack of sleep so this chapter might lack some emotions, I just hope I put in a decent amount.**

* * *

"How are you feeling now, sweetie?" Lusamine asked from where she sat as she watches her son being hugged by an over-sized, stuffed teddy bear.

"Calm...I'm calm." Her son said between deep breathes. Currently the heir of the Aether Foundation is in an almost bone-crushing hug by his mother's Pokemon, but does not feel any discomfort thanks to years of getting used to this Pokemon's hugging nature.

"Now, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to kick Ash Ketchum's fu-!" His mother cut him off before she heard him say any colorful words.

"Bewear, it seems Gladion wants more of your hugs." Lusamine kindly asked her teddy bear of a Pokemon, who was happy to oblige.

"GYAH! Too tight!" Gladion manages to rasp out through crushed lungs. "Let me go!"

"I will let you go once you've calm down."

"I am calm!" Gladion yelled at her.

"No, you're not." His mother told him calmy, trying to make him accept the truth. Lusamine sighs, "Clearly this will continue on unless you go to sleep."

"Like I'm going to sleep anytime soon." Gladion pointed out. Anger seems to be fueling him now. "And how can you give your blessings like that? You and I haven't met this Ash Ketchum!"

"I have my good reasons, which I will tell you later once you've calm down." Lusamine tells him as she pulls out a Pokeball, "And you will go to sleep if I use _her_."

Gladion raises an eyebrow, "Huh?"

Coming out of his mother's Pokeball was a plant humanoid creature with a big flower on its head. Its head has leaves for hair, orange eyes that resemble seeds, and a white face. It has long, big leaves for arms with no fingers or hands. The leaves around its abdomen resembles a dress.

"AHHHHHHH! ! !"

* * *

 _"Gladion? It's almost midnight. What are you still doing up? Go to sleep." Lusamine asks her son with sleepy eyes, having awoke from her son's screaming at the television. Although a little irritated, she is just glad that Gladion has not woke up Lillie yet._

 _"But mom, I don't want to miss the last episode of Phantom Shiftry!" Protested by a nine year-old Gladion._

 _The mother looks up the show on the menu, "But that show wont be on for another hour. Can't you just record like you usually do?"_

 _"No! This is the last episode, I want to watch it live!_ _" Gladion yelled back before grabbing the remote from his mother and tunes up the volume up to maximum to as the second-to-last episode started with the theme song._

 _Too tired to argue with her son, she brought out her secret weapon._

* * *

Gladion gasps, he knows this Pokemon very well. It was thanks to this very Pokemon, he never got a overnight sleep ever since that very night. Like that's a bad thing and Lusamine does not want her children to lose any goodnight sleep which might affect them in the future. At least Lillie always go to bed on a schedule as she does not need to be told.

"Sorry sweetie, but you leave me no choice." Lusamine said to her son with a sad look before turning to her grass-type Pokemon. "Lilligant, grass whistle."

The Flowering Pokemon places both of her leaves-like arms on top of its nearly invisible mouth and starts blowing. Once she started the attack, music starts to be heard and musical nights of various colored energy starts to appear, all of which starts to float towards the restrained boy and bear.

Bewear saw the attack coming and immediately dropped Gladion before getting out of the way. Gladion did not have time to react after falling on his behind, so the music affected him and he was out like a candle being blown out.

Lusamine sighs, she was afraid of this, but it was too late now. At least her son will be calm in the morning, she hopes.

"Bewear? Please be a dear and get Gladion to bed and make sure he stays there until morning."

* * *

 **Meanwhile, At Lillie's Mansion**

"Ash... I really hate my fear."

The raven haired stood as he listen to her reason as he watches her with a look of curiosity.

"I really hate my fear. Because of it, I can never got near a Pokemon without freaking out like a baby." Lillie places her hands above her heart. "I read that if you understand more about your fear, you can overcome it. That is why I study a lot about Pokemon." She motions to her bookshelf full of information about Pokemon.

"I see." Ash said quietly. That can explain that determined look on Lillie's earlier, she really wants to overcome her fear.

"But...because of my fear, I missed out a lot." Lillie continues as she turned to Ash, "Did you know that I started attending Pokemon School the month before you came to Alola?"

Ash blink in the revelation, "You did?" That means Lillie was the previous newest student before he came to Alola.

Lillie nodded in confirmation with a frown.

"Yes and the reason why is because I was missing a lot of the outside world. Literally, before Pokemon School, I spent most of my time here. I was too afraid to leave the comfort of my own home. Heh. Pathetic, huh?" She berates herself with a uneasy smile.

Ash step toward to her in objection, "No, Lillie. You're not pathetic." He almost yelled at her with an assuring tone.

"Yes, I am!" Lillie yelled back which surprised Ash, "It was not even my idea to attend the Pokemon School. It was Mallow's."

Again, Ash blinks in shock at the revelation. So the chef's support for Lillie goes far as that.

"Heh~It was also Mallow's idea of me taking care of the Pokemon egg." Lillie said with a smile that betrays her sorrowful eyes, "See? I can't even make my own decision."

Ash looks at her with a look of empathy, feeling sorry for his classmate. He never knew her fear almost ruined her life if Mallow did not persuade her to enroll. He's starting to understand. Lillie must missed out a lot from outside of her own house if it were not for Mallow, that means Lillie does not have much of life outside of school and home. Her life right now practically revolves on overcoming her fear.

"So..." Ash starts with a trail, "you want to give 'us' a chance because...?"

A blush appeared on her face, "Well...I meant that we should spend a day together...to get to know each other..."

"Like a date?" Ash asks with a blush that matches Lillie's. She nodded, "But why?

"Ash...ever since we first kissed...you've been in my head." Lillie admits.

The raven haired teen rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, you too." Ash also admits which made Lillie look at him with shocked eyes.

Lillie blushes madly from the thought of a boy thinking about her, she blushes even more from what kinds of thoughts he was having of her. Regardless of her embarrassed mind, she continued.

"Yes and...I'm no expert in dating." Lillie admits.

 _"You're not the only one."_

"Which is another I'm missing out..." The bookworm continued, "So I thought this could be great learning experience for me... and see what happens to us after."

Ash stared at her with a solemn look. If there is one he can admire about her is her determination and resourcefulness to have a normal life. In his years of traveling to become a Pokemon master, he has faced many obstacles along the way that block his way of his dream. He was lucky that he has his Pokémon always have his back and they always pull through for him whether it was a Gym battle or fighting against evil he encountered. The fear of touching Pokémon, that has to be the ultimate nightmare to every Pokémon trainer and Pokémon lovers everywhere, and for that, he pities her.

As of now, he really wants to help her overcome her fear and help her repair the damaged caused by her fear more than ever, but can he really help her with a date? Now he starting to regret those time when Brock offered dating advice to him, but if Ash decides to ever date a girl, there is no way he would turn to Brock on that subject. He should have listened to May when she goes into romantic mode because right now, he is a total wreck. He began to tremble, fearing the chance of messing up.

"Lillie...are you sure?"

The blonde blinks in confusion, a moment ago, Ash was not this nervous. In fact, he looks so helpless right now that even a Magikarp can KO him.

"What's wrong, Ash?" She ask worriedly.

Ash looks back at her with an anxious look, worried that he will hurt her if agrees to or not, but since there is no other way, he had no choice.

"Alright, Lillie." He said to her, "If it makes you happy, I'll take you out."

Lillie gasp with a blush. Various emotions filled her: Surprised from Ash agreeing on a date, happy to know that he is willing to go with this, and, of course, embarrassed because this is her very first date.

Carefully placing the egg on her bed, she glomp onto Ash, "Thank you!"

* * *

 **Outside**

Unknown to the two occupants, they were being eavesdropped by a certain butler. He did not hear much, but he did learn about his young lady's request to the raven-haired trainer. Hearing that the conversation is about to meet to an end, he quickly left the scene before he was found out.

"A date!?" He yelled, but luckily for him, he was not heard through the thick walls and door. "I must contact Lady Lusamine!"

* * *

 **With Mallow**

The chef was outside in front of Lillie's mansion, sitting on the side of the water fountain, waiting for Ash so they can go back home. As much she wants to spend a day at Lillie's home, she really interrogate Ash for leaving her out of the loop in the middle of their little mission without arousing suspicion from anyone. She is also a little peeve with Lillie right now, but a little hurt that her friend is not talking to her.

Mallow then heard the front door open. Turning her head, she saw Ash got out while Lillie stayed inside the house with the door being held open by her maid. Pikachu and Rotom seem to have already returned to Ash's shoulder and side respectively.

"So see you tomorrow, Lillie. Have a goodnight." Ash bid his goodbye for the day.

"Pika!" Ash's starter bid his goodbye as well.

"Yes, goodnight to you too." Lillie replied with a smile. She then saw Mallow sitting on the fountain, "Goodnight to you too, Mallow!"

The chef bid her goodbye as well with her bright smile, "See ya at school!"

When all bid their goodbyes, Lillie went back inside her house with her maid following by. Now it was just Ash, Mallow, and Lillie's chauffeur, who is kind enough to drive back the two classmates of his young lady.

Ash then turned to the chef. He slightly took a step back when he saw that glare on her face.

Nervously he rubbed the back of his head, "Hey Mallow. I...sort of... cleared things up with Lillie, but...something came up. Can you help me?"

Instead of receive a reply, Mallow continued to glare at him for a few more moments before turning her head away from him and walk to the car.

"Mallow? Hey! Wait up!" Ash yelled back as he ran up to the car before it left without him.

"Pika!"

"Wait, bzzt!"

 _"Oh, great. What did I do now?"_

* * *

The ride was long and silence. And also life threatening, well for Ash and the driver that is. Who would not be scared for their own lives when you are in the same car with a girl who is radiating a dark aura to promises a long and painful death. Ash has it worst because he is sitting right next to that girl and that girl is Mallow.

Ash does not know what is worse, the fact that he might not survive the car ride or he unintentionally angered Mallow, a girl.

Fortunately for Ash, Mallow's house was not that far from Lillie's mansion so it was a short car ride compared to the drive to Kukui's home.

When Mallow got out, Ash also got out.

"Can you wait a minute?" He told the driver

"Of course."

Mallow has just unlocked and opened the door to her house when she was suddenly pushed inside by Ash, who immediately closed the door with Pikachu and Rotom coming inside as well.

"Hey! Ash Ketchum! That was rude!" Mallow yelled.

Ash was so lucky that her parents are not home yet or else he would be in deep trouble by now. He gulped at the thought.

"First you ignored me, then you had Lillie ignore me also, and now you're invading my own home!"

"Oh, you're mad about that?" Ash said once he realized the reason for Mallow's anger. He then motions her to calm down with his hands "Hehehe, sorry about that, but...me and Lillie were sort of hiding a secret."

Mallow's anger melted in curiosity, a confused look now plastered on her face. Another secret?

"What do you mean?"

Ash nervously scratches the back of his head, wondering he should tell her or not. Although, he already did tell her their first secret.

"Well... me and Lillie kissed again."

...

"Uh...Mallow?"

 **BAM!**

"Pika-pi!"

"What's happening bzzt?"

"OWWW!" Ash fell on his back from the force. He immediately put his hand on the now sore spot located on the top of his head. _"First Misty with her magic mallet and now Mallow with her...LADLE!?"_

The pain from the head injury fuels his anger, "What was that for!?"

He soon regretted for his action when he saw the horrifying anger on Mallow's face. He thought Misty's anger problem was something, but this one definitely takes the cake. He crawled back when he saw Mallow's grip on her ladle tightened which indicates another strike to his head.

"You mean to tell me that you only wanted to get another smooch from Lillie again?"

"What? I didn't say that!" Ash protested as he raise his arms up for protect, "Besides Lillie wanted it."

"What!?" Mallow yelled before raising her ladle up, preparing for a strike.

"That did not come out right." Ash said with a regretful voice before raising his right hand up, "Sorry Mallow, but Pikachu use Iron Tai."

Pikachu concentrated steel energy into his tail, which not only made it become hard as steel, but also as heavy. He easily intercepted Mallow's strike before she could even hit his trainer.

* * *

Fortunately for Ash, Mallow knows how strong and experienced Pikachu is and none of her Pokemon could stand a chance with a Pokemon who has fought countless battles over the years, so the chef calmed down and listen to Ash's explanation of what happened between him and Lillie. They even sat at the kitchen table across from each other at opposite sides and Mallow got a jug of iced tea from the fridge for them both. Ash told her what happened before and after dinner, he informed her that Lillie was told of their plan by him. Ash has not yet informed Mallow of the very important part, but he will tell her soon enough.

Mallow took a sip from her own cup of tea, "So let me get this straight...Lillie actually wanted a kiss from you?"

Ash nervously nodded his head, "Yes."

Even though she is now relaxed, the chef still has anger boiling up some anger, but she suppresses the urge to inflict pain onto the raven-haired trainer. Ash looks away nervously from her glare. If what the raven-haired said is true, Mallow is quite surprised of her friend, who never showed any interests in boys before. That accidental kiss certainly changed her perspective. Although it sounds unbelievable, Mallow is actually quite proud of Lillie since she is finally showing some interests on things other than Pokémon. Mallow was kind of afraid that her friend might end up being romantically awkward in the future, but right now, she is glad that is not the case, yet if only the circumstances were different.

Although...

"I'll believe it when I ask Lillie tomorrow so you better not be lying." She threatens as she motioned to the kitchen utensils that were around the kitchen room. Ash gulp at the mere sight of them.

The raven-haired teen swallowed his fear down his throat.

"Mallow, I have no reason to lie to you," Ash assures her with a pleading look, "Especially when I need help from you."

The chef sighs, obviously there are still some things that are needed to be cleared up between her two friends. After a long day, she really wished that Ash let her talk to Lillie about the problem.

"What happened?"

"Well after dinner...Lillie...asked for a request from me."

"What? She wants another smooch from you?" Mallow asked sarcastically with a half-joking voice.

Ash blushes. Deep down, he actually wish that Lillie requested for another kiss and not a date since he is more experienced with the former and he has never been to with the latter. Also, he really to feel her lips and embrace her again since he really likes the feel of her soft-

 _"Woah,woah. Calm down you"_ Ash said to himself in his thought as he shook his head. He looks back at Mallow, "Actually...she wanted to go a date."

Mallow picked the wrong to take a sip of her tea because she did a spit take with her cold brewed tea. Even though it sounds unbelieveable since this is her friend they are currently talking about, but she knew Ash would never take a joke this far.

"What!?" She yelled, but she quickly noticed Ash is now drenched with a tea and her own saliva mixed in it. She gave a sheepish grin and handed a couple of napkins. "Opps...sorry."

Ash took the napkins from her, "Don't be, I understand." He told her as he wipe liquid of his face. He definitely needs a change of clothes, he will when he gets back to Kukui's home.

While he was doing that, Mallow took the time to ask, "Lillie really wanted to go on a date with you?"

"That's what she asked for."

"And you're going through with it?"

"I promised I'd do anything for her forgiveness," Ash stated with a determined voice, "If she wants to go on a date, she'll get one...but..."

"What?"

"I...never went on a date." Ash admitted

"Pfft, obviously." Mallow stated bluntly.

Ash knew that his facade of a dense male really made a lot people think of him as a really dense male and he made no exception to keep his facade up in this new region. Even though he had years of suppressing his urges, he still has a tough time especially in a region where it so hot that females wear short or thin clothing to beat the heat. He is quite glad that Lillie wears a dress, but clothing like Mallow's he would try his absolute hardest not to.

"And yet, despite acting dense, you're quite a daring boy, Ash."

Ash looks at Mallow with an expression that looks like his secret was found out which appears to have just happened. "...What?"

Mallow smirks, "Don't act like I don't notice you goggling at my goods like right now, Ashy Boy."

 _"Ashy Boy!? Oh come on! Are you serious!? Why!?"_ Ash screamed in his head. "Wait..you knew!?" She noticed him staring at her...?

"Yes, but lets talk about that later." Mallow said which made Ash relieved, "You need dating advice, right?"

"Yeah..." Ash trailed with a nervous voice.

"Did you two set up a time?"

"Uh...no, not yet. I told Lillie I'd figured that out and tell her tomorrow." He informs her, "And...I really don't have a plan for our date."

"I see..." Mallow trailed as she went into deep thinking. Tomorrow is Friday, right? When she thought up an idea, she looks back at Ash, "Okay; tomorrow, you'll tell Lillie that the date will be a picnic and it will be on this weekend."

"A picnic? To where?" Even he has been in Alola for quite some time now, he still does not have a layout of the entire island, at least not very known locations. A picnic? Sounds like a good first date for the both of them.

"I'm sure you two can figure that part out," Mallow said with her bright smile. She then stand up from her chair, "Then; after school, come here and I'll help you prepare the food."

Ash's eyes widen. Sure he likes the idea of him providing food for the picnic since he will be the gentleman of the date, but his culinary skills are not that great.

"Ummm..."

Mallow crack a smirk, "Horrible cook?"

Ash nodded with an uneasy smile, "Yeah..."

"Don't worry, I'll fix that." She said with a determined look. She is not just a great chef, but a great teacher of culinary arts as well and she is willing to prove that by teaching a novice like Ash. "Anyway, it's late. Kukui-sensei might be wondering what's taking you so long."

The two students with Ash's Pikachu walk to the front door. Ash turned to Mallow bid his goodnight to her.

"Thanks, Mallow. You're a good, no, great friend." Ash told her before Lillie's face flash in his mind, which reminded of how deep the friendship between these two girls, "Especially to Lillie."

"I know." Mallow said with a smile as she also said her goodnight to him. She watches as he walks out the door, but stop for a sec. "Before you go, one piece of advice."

"What is it?" Ash said with a curious face, which he shared with Pikachu and the Rotomdex.

 **BAM!**

Just like with Misty's magic mallet, Mallow pulled out her ladle from out of nowhere and strikes the top of Ash's head with it.

"Ow!"

"Never leave a girl hanging."

And with that, she slammed her front door in his face.

* * *

 **If you ask me, Lillie does not have much of social life outside of school and studying Pokémon. Sure she has Mallow and her friends helping her, but we never see or hear her doing other things by herself except studying. When you have a fear, usually they hinder your life. For example, I have a fear of heights and because of that, I do not things such as zip lining or rock climbing even I think they are cool activities and because of that, I don't have much of a thrilling life. Now this before Lillie's egg hatched episode, this speculation that I used to interpret Lillie's character**

 **As you can see if you read this chapter and the first chapter carefully, Ash has high respect for the opposite gender. Also, if you read my profile, Ash's** **personality is the same one as in his journey during Sinnoh along with his respect for women.**

 **It has been a while since I watch any episodes of the original series so I'm not sure if Misty used her magic mallet on Ash, but I'm 100 percent sure he's terrified of it.**

 **As you can see, the character are OCC from the canon, but I hope not too much.**

 **Just so you guys know, I put up a progress report in my profile, so you guys know how much the next chapter progressed.**

 **Please review~**


	6. Preparations and Talks

**I said that Gladion will be taking on Team Rocket in this chapter, but there was a change in plans. He'll still battle them though(Just not in this chapter)**

* * *

 **The Next Day**

When Ash got home last night, he did not get much sleep which is understandable after a long day and a long car ride back home with a lot of stuff on his mind. In all honesty, that had to be one of his craziest day of his stay in Alola so far. At first, his primary goal of the yesterday was to seek forgiveness which he technically did, but gained a date in the process, which will occur tomorrow. Oh Arceus; he never been to a date before and now he is going to one without much preparation and it is tomorrow!

After he got back to Kukui's house, he told everything that happened to Rotom, who was quite interested on what was happening. The living Pokédex stated that it could help in any way it could, but it will not be much help since his specialty only involves Pokémon, although he did offer to explain Pokémon breeding, because it is sort of related to Ash's situation, to the Kanto trainer, but he sternly objected to that offer. What a long day for the Kanto native.

At least he has Mallow to help him out. Speaking of the chef, he made a mental note to himself to not anger the green-haired girl. After seeing the violent side of her, Ash now see her as the female version of Brock with Misty mixed in. She has great culinary skills, has terrifying anger, and seems to have sort of a perverted mind, he guess? Oh Arceus and she seems to found out the mask he has been wearing for the past years and also know that he has eyed at her before. How did she found out?

Oh and lets not forget about Lillie. He was quite surprised that his classmate requested a date from him, it was definitely the surprise of the day. Although, that was not the only surprise; he learned that she was the previous newest student before he enrolled into the Pokémon School and that it was Mallow's idea for her to enroll. Maybe he will find out more the next time he talks to Mallow, which will probably take place at her home later in the day.

* * *

Like Ash, Lillie also did not got much sleep last night despite sleeping on a very luxurious bed the world has to offer. She too had a long day; yesterday morning felt like it was going to be a usual day for her, but no, it was not so.

Her usual schedule involved going to the Pokemon School, learn materials on Pokemon that she had never heard of before, and then come home to study more on Pokemon. But her schedule got broken when she agreed to take care of a Pokemon egg. She envisioned herself taking care of a Pokemon egg if she ever overcome her phobia, but not soon as this. What also made her day long was that encounter with that Salandit. At least she is now closer to the the egg as a sense what a mother would be would be for her unborn child.

Although, what took the cake was her relationship with Ash. After the raven-haired teen left her mansion, some guilt still remained in her heart. She regretted of ever giving him the cold shoulder. At least they cleared(somewhat) things up, but with some complications. She could not believed that she asked Ash out on a date! Just thinking about it made her blood rush to her cheek. Oh Arceus, she really hope that she did not really complicate things up even more, she just hopes that Ash stops blaming himself for it which makes her even more guilty. This is so complicated.

She had a half a mind to ask her mother for help, but quickly got rid of that idea. At this point, she wants to do this on her own, she asked for a date and now she has go through this with Ash!

... ... ... ... ... ...

... ... ... ... ... ...

Although reading those dating magazines that Mallow offered her before might be a good idea. At least her best friend can help her since she knows what happened between her and Ash.

* * *

When Ash got to the front entrance of the Pokemon School, he noticed Lillie was there, obviously waiting for him. She has the Pokemon egg with her, which is inside the incubation capsule. Like usual, she is wearing her regular dress and large sunhat.

"A-alola, Ash." Lillie said with a greeting tone.

"Alola," He replied back. He then notices Lillie motioning to the side before walking away from the entrance. He quickly got what she wants and follows to a secluded spot behind the trees.

Pikachu and Rotom were about to follow as well, but soon realized that the two humans might want some privacy as of now, so they both waited at the entrance.

"I was wondering," Lillie started once she left that they were alone. She nervously continued with a blush on her face, "Have you thought up of...when we will go that date...that you promise me?"

Ash blushes, he was hoping that they would have this conversation right after when school ends for the day. Well it is better sooner rather than later.

"Oh! I was thinking...that we could have our date...tomorrow." He shyly replied.

Lillie's eyes widen, "Tomorrow!"

"Sorry, is it too soon?"

"Yes-I mean no! I'm just...surprised." Lillie said hastily. Despite appearing nervous, she is quite grateful that it is tomorrow.

For one, she has at least the rest of the day after school to mentally prepare herself and maybe even read some of those dating magazines that Mallow have. She can read a thousand paged book in no time, so reading a thin article will be a walk in the park. Also, her requested date has been in her mind since last night, which is the main for her lack of sleep; with a 24 hour long wait, she will not be stressed by it too much.

"Cool..." Ash trailed before continuing as Mallow's advice flowed into his mind, "I-I was thinking that we could...go on a picnic together."

"A picnic?" A smile appeared on Lillie's face, albeit shaky and her blush still remains visible. "That sounds lovely."

"Really? I'm glad you like it the idea." Ash said with a smile, which started to weaver. "But... I don't know any places in Alola that we can go to."

"Oh, really? Well... I have one place in mind." Lillie told him after thinking about a certain location she has not been to for a while.

"Really? Where?" He asked with a curious voice.

"It's-" Before Lillie could even finish, the two students heard the first bell of the day, which indicates class will start in ten minutes.

Ash turned to the direction of the school with his eyes widen, "Tell me later! Class is almost starting! We better get going!"

Both immediately started running with Lillie running in a slower pace because she feared the possibility of tripping and damaging her egg.

* * *

The entire school day was a rather simple day. The lesson was about a newly discovered Pokemon type, which is known to be a Fairy type. The class was amazed by this new type and were eagered to learn all about it. They first went over where the discovery of Fairy type originated, which is a faraway region known as Kalos. Ash was amazed to hear another region he has yet traveled to, this lesson just keeps getting interesting for the 5 year experienced trainer. Then they went over the basics, which is learning the weakness and resistance of Fairy types and what Pokemon are weak against this type. Then came Kukui's favorite part, Fairy type moves.

The day was quite simple since there was only one topic to study on, so it felt a rather short day for Ash's class. Pretty soon it was time to leave. Most of the class already left, all those who are still present in the classroom are Ash, Lillie, and Mallow. As Ash was packing up, Lillie had a quick conversation with her best friend.

"Um Mallow, you wouldn't happen to have-" Lillie was cut off before she could finish as Mallow slaps her with what she was looking for.

"These?"

Although her line of sight was blinded, Lillie could tell these were what she was looking for that Mallow offered her several times before in the past. The green-haired chef knew that saving these was a good idea and after last night, she also thought it was a good idea to hand these to her friend for later.

Lillie took them with some hesitation. Not wanting to talk to her friend about all has transpired the night before, the blonde quickly said her goodbye and left the school building while making sure to not drop the Pokemon egg, which is surprising considering her speed.

Although, she did have a brief conversation with Ash.

"I-I'll see you later, Ash." She managed to say with a smile before leaving the room.

Despite she was no longer present, Ash gave a small wave to Lillie. Mallow then walks up to him with a smile.

"I see that you two are now in speaking terms." She said. Ash chuckled as he returned the smile, "You ready?"

"Uh yeah, just let me get my stuff."

* * *

 **Aina Cafeteria**

When the two got to Mallow's home, which doubles as a restaurant, it was already full of customers. Luckily there was not that many so Mallow's parents did not need any extra set of hands to help in the kitchen. Although the two did have a quick lunch before starting, Ash's stomach could not resist and the green haired chef could not blame him for it, her family's cooking is something that you can not pass up in any lifetime.

When the two finished up with an after school lunch, there was even less customers, so the kitchen was practically given to them for the rest of the day.

To Ash's embarrassment and against his will, Mallow made him wear a frilly pink apron. His starter and Pokebex laughed at his expense. He was so lucky that Rotom was only programmed to gather data on Pokemon.

"Do I have to wear this?"

 **BAM!** Was his answer.

"In my parents' kitchen, yes." Mallow said with a smirk as she puts down her ladle. "So tell me, what was the last thing that you made in a kitchen."

Ash grimaced when he flashback to a certain event where tried, keyword:tried, to cook something up with all the ingredients in Kukui's house. The result was something that he was certain is classified as a poison. Although, it can be classified as food... for a Muk.

Mallow chuckled at Ash's face, "Not good?"

He gulps as he covered his mouth with his fist to hold back anything that might come out.

"That's putting it lightly." Pikachu shared his pain and expression. Oh how they both missed Brock.

"You know you don't have to do this," She informs him, "You could just buy some take out like a pizza or something. Heck, I'll even cook up something for you two, I won't mind."

"No!" Ash objects, "You have been a great help, Mallow. From this point, I'll be asking too much of you."

"It won't be much of a hassle for me, Ash." She assures him with a smile. "Besides, I love to cook and I know Lillie's favorites."

"Then teach how to make them!" Ash said, now with a loud and determined voice.

Mallow gave a light gasp. Normally people would take the easier route, but it seems Ash is willing to take the extra mile.

"You really want to go through with this, aren't you?" She said rhetorically with a smile.

"I promised Lillie that I'll take her which is a promise I will keep." He said as he continues. "I never been to a date before and neither did Lillie, and since she's still nervous around me, I will have to work hard to make this perfect."

Mallow gave a couple of giggles, "Okay, first: calm down." She advised him as she grabs his clenched fist that is raised up and pulls it down. Ash did not even knew he unconsciously made a fist. "You're going on a date, not a battle. Lillie is not the only one who needs to be calm, you do too."

Ash calmed his muscles as he took a deep breathe. "You're right."

Mallow smiled once he was calm, "Alright, lets get to work."

* * *

 **Meanwhile, with Lillie**

When the rich bookworm, got home, she was greeted by her butler, Jason, as always like any other days. Like her usual routine, she is asked by her maid if she wants any after-school snacks which she said yes to. Although, getting a phone call right when she got into her room after sitting down at her desk is different. She put down the magazine for a moment to pick up her phone.

To her surprise, the caller ID said 'Mother.' She smiled brightly as she answered the call.

"Mother! You called! How are you doing?"

Chuckles can be heard from the other end, "Alola, Lillie. I haven't heard your voice for quite a while, so I thought I should call to see how you are doing."

Lillie was so lucky that this was not a call in a video or else her mother would have seen her eyes widen and suspected something has happened. If she made a list of people who should never know of her accidental first kiss, her family, especially her mother and brother, will definitely be at the very top. Now with the current situation, she really hopes her brother, Gladion, does not ever find out or else Ash will find himself in a hospital bed which can double as his death bed.

"So-sorry, mother, but a lot has happened at my school." She was lucky her mother could not see her blushing face.

On her end, Lusamine was feeling feverish, the excited kind, with a very dark smile. A smile that promises endless amount of embarrassment to her daughter. Oh what a fitting punishment for her daughter for not telling her love life, she thought. She always wanted to be involved with her daughter's first date, yet she didn't inform her!? Well then...

"Oh? Like what?" The mother started the interrogation. She knows her daughter well and she knows Lillie is too kind to hang up on someone unexpectedly, especially her mother.

"Well..." Where should Lillie start with? A lot has happened since their last talk. If she could, she will avoid any private topics. "You remember my friend, Lana?"

Lusamine smiled as she recalled a certain water Pokemon lover's face on a video Phone. "Yes, I remember her. Such a sweetheart."

"She became the teacher for day." Lillie explained as she giggled as remembered Lana's embarrassed face. "You should have seen her face. She was being a great teacher though."

"Hmmmm." Sounds like an interesting story to Lusamine, but that is a story she would like to hear about later. "How about you? How are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm doing fine. I'm keeping up with my studies and... I'm trying my hardest to touch Pokemon." That last one was said with a low voice.

Lusamine frowned at that, her little interrogation forgotten for the moment, "How is that going by the way?" Her voice is full of sadness and sympathy.

"Uh... alright I guess." Lillie said as the faces of friends flashed into her head, "My friends are helping me with my fear, especially Ash, he-!"

Lillie slaps her mouth closed as her eyes widen. How careless of her. Her mother smiled, though this was purely accidental, she went back to her covert interrogation.

"Ash?" She feigned ignorance to that name, "That's a new one, who is he? A new classmate of yours?"

No way can she get her way out this and lying to her mother is the last thing she wants to do in her life. There's no turning back now.

"Y-yes,"

 **(1)**

* * *

 **Aina Cafeteria**

"How can you ruin a salad?" Mallow berated her classmate as she threw away the black gunk concoction that were once ingredients for a bowl of raw vegetables and dressings. Seriously, how can someone ruin a salad when they were following verbal instructions from someone who made plenty bowls of salads before.

"Sorry." Ash said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well I can't trust you to make a salad," She points out before gathering more ingredients. "How about you make something more simple while I prepare the salad? You can make some sandwiches, right?"

Ash blush from embarrassment. Sure he did not inherit his mother's culinary skills and never had much interest in cooking, but making something so simple like a sandwich is much to learning how to read by reading a kid's picture book when you are at the age way above for a children's book.

Mallow noticed this, she smirked. She picked up one of the ingredients. "Now, this is lettuce." She mocked him.

The raven haired teen glared at her, "Yeah, yeah I know." Despite what he said, he picked up something else from the cooking table.

"That's a cabbage, Ash."

He dropped it and picked up the same thing.

"That is still a cabbage." Mallow laughed out. She is finding this to be actually pretty fun, making fun of a novice that is. "I'm starting to think I should really make all the food. For Lillie's safety, of course. Face it Ash, you know I'm right."

He grumbled in exasperation, "Does an ingredient out of place really make a difference?" Ash asked irritably. "Besides, they look the same to me."

"Yes, it will make a difference, especially with you." She answered bluntly to his question as she took the vegetable from him before he started cutting. "They may look the same, but they taste different. Also, you're suppose to wash them first before using them."

Ash sighed as his respect for Brock's cooking increased. He and Mallow really make cooking look so easy. Mallow then placed the washed lettuce and tomatoes in front of him on a cutting board. She then proceeded to give him a loaf of bread and some condiments.

"Here, cut them like this." She demonstrated how the cut vegetables should look like and how to cut them with a knife. Mallow handed him the knife before going to prepare a bowl of salad by herself. She quickly looks back at Ash when a thought flashed into her head, "Make sure not to put too much mayonnaise for Lillie's share, she does not like too much of it on hers."

"Okay, sure."

This went on, with the two of them making two different kinds of grub, for a really long, silent, and somewhat awkward moment. What made it awkward is that the trainer from Pallet Town was being quiet while doing what she told him to do, which sort of made the young chef feel a little uneased. This is not the Ash Ketchum she is used to since she first met him.

When she first met him, he made the impression of a very adventurous and enthusiastic Pokémon trainer. In a way, she can understand why one of the guardians of Alola, Tapu Koko, takes an interest in him; she may not have seen much trainers in any of the islands that makes up Alola, but Ash is definitely not like the mundane Pokémon trainer.

As she gets to know him, she noticed a couple of things, that the rest of her friends do not know of, about their friend from a faraway region. Despite having great culinary skills for someone who is still young, she mostly serves the customers their food because her parents still do not trust her that much. As she moves around her parents' restaurant to give out the ordered food and bringing back dirty dishes to the kitchen, she can tell when a male customer is eyeing at her when she is not looking. She has been doing that for a couple of years now, so it is understandable that she grew a sense to this.

When she feels her sixth sense, she knows when a boy is staring at from a distance, which is how she found out Ash has a hidden perverted mind. She is not the only one she caught Ash staring at; during around the time she and Ash brought Pikachu to a Pokémon Center after a battle with a wild Grubin, she caught Ash eyeing at rather attractive girls around the Pokémon center, even Nurse Joy. After each time he found himself staring at the opposite sex, she sees Ash clench his fist very tightly, so tight she could have sworn that his knuckles might bleed. Even though she was there with him and saw the whole thing, he did not tell her why. From what she gathered, Ash is keeping something about himself a secret.

"Hey, Ash?" She started another conversation while multitasking with making the salad.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you doing this?" She asked. Ash blinks at her, urging her to explain her question more clearly. "I mean, all you had to do was to ask for forgiveness from Lillie and be done with it. Yet you let her make you do her bidding."

"It's because...I don't want things awkward between us. Besides, it was practically my fault, so I'm making up for it."

His words hold some truth, but Mallow noticed that brief pause. He's holding back. "And...?"

Ash grunted when a certain memory from his mind flashed into his mind. He completely forgot that Mallow already knows about his dense façade. He is quite reluctant to share out with something very personal. However, he has been wanting to share his secret for quite a while, but he never had anyone he could turn to.

Brock? He is a big NO.

Delia? No way is he talking about his love/sex life with his own mother.

Max? Smart, but is too young to talk to.

How about Misty, May, or Dawn? He has seen how terrifying they can be, so there is no chance is he telling them that he inappropriately stared at them before in the past. Also, he teasures his friendship with all of them, he does not want to risk tarnishing their bond.

Mallow is a different matter though. She already knows about the perverted part of his mind, so maybe this can work well.

"I...I have high respect for women."

Mallow's face remained unchanged as she processed what he just said. Air quickly inflated her mouth as she tried to resist. She failed miserably.

"PFFT - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH ! ! ! !"

Maybe he should have chose his words more wisely. Ash sighs, oh well he thought. At least, it was just the two of them in the kitchen and he can trust Mallow to keep this a secret since she is already keeping the secret between him and Lillie.

After five minutes of laughter and another five minutes to catch her breath, Mallow finally calmed down. She giggled at the sight of Ash's glare.

"Sorry, sorry." Her smile betrays her apologies, she clearly enjoyed what she considered to be the joke of the day. "But a line like that coming from you is hilarious."

Ash sighs as he shook his head before turning his attention back to making the sandwiches.

Mallow walk up behind, she placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, sorry I laughed at you." She said softly, now with sincerity. She smiled when Ash look back at her, "So...you were serious?"

"Yeah." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Mallow noticed it, "Want to talk about it?"

Ash contemplated a bit on that offer, but soon nodded his head.

* * *

Ash and Mallow sat at one of the tables in the dining area. The sun is already setting, so the establishment is near empty of customers. The only customer is at the other side of the room, so the two students did not have to worry about them because of the distance between them.

Like last night, the two were drinking iced tea.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone about this?" Ash asked when Mallow finished filling his and her cup. A nod was all Ash need from her. "I had a crush on a girl once."

"What happened?"

"It was short lived." Ash said straightforward as he took a sip. "And after that... I was mad and sick of myself."

"Wow." Mallow commented, not expecting something like from him. She is not laughing. She can tell this is serious. She can see the self-hatred in his eyes.

"Do you want to know what me fall for her?" He did not wait for a response, "Her looks and that is why I'm mad at myself."

Mallow gave a nervous laugh, not knowing what to get out of this. She understands why he would be mad at himself for something like that, falling in love with someone by just their looks is just wrong. However, that is quite pretty common when you're at a young age.

"So you had a crush on her because of her looks?" Mallow deduced, she gave a couple "That's not quite a big deal, Ash. I don't see why you hate yourself for that. Everyone has that sort of crush, even me; when I was little, I was crushing on a cute boy and his was-"

"It's more then that!" Ash yelled, almost screaming at the top of his lungs. He internally gasp when he found himself yelling, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. "After my crush for her ended, I realized something. I was becoming like him."

"Him?"

"My dad."

 **(1)**

* * *

 **Since this is an AU, I did have to introduce Fairy type Pokemon somehow and because this takes in a school, it was quite easy to introduce it. Not a very exciting way to introduce Fairy types, but the Pokémon XY anime also did not introduce Fairy Type very well, although the battle (Sylveon vs Froakie)was pretty decent(in my opinion)**

 **So there is more to Ash's reason to why he respects women, I'm pretty I mentioned this on a early chapter note (Did I?).**

 **(1): Again I did cliffhangers (I.e, Lillie's conversation with her mother and Ash's conversation with Mallow), but like always it will be explained later. The reason why I did cliffhangers is because I have some personal problems right now and if I don't fix them, this chapter would have been delayed at a later date and it has been more than a month since I updated this story and did not want you guys waiting any longer. See ya next chapter.**

 **~Please review**


	7. The Night Before

**I said that this would be the last chapter before continuing the story in a new story, but I did not want to leave my loyal readers waiting for too long.**

 **I put the lines which are spoken through phone in "[]" to avoid any confusion. For example, if Lillie hears "Hello" from her phone, it will be written in "[Hello]"**

 **Enjoy the second-to-last chapter**

* * *

 **This whole italic section is Ash monologuing**

 _"I never knew my dad which is the reason why I hate him."_

 _"As you should know, I grew up in a small part of the Kanto region called Pallet Town. The way I would describe Pallet Town is that it's peaceful as it is here in Melemele Island, only it's smaller. Growing up, it was just me and my mom. I never really had any friends there, although I do have one, but he was a big jerk back then."_

 _"Let me tell you about my mom. She IS amazing! Like I said, it was just me and my mom; I never had any other sort of family, not even my grandparents from either side. My mother comes from a long line of small families, so it was just my mom raising me and I wouldn't have it any other way."_

 _"She was quite protective of me, even so when I was just still a baby. When I turned three, she thought I was old enough to be by myself in the house, but she told me to never the leave the house. She was quite the worrywart, Pallet Town hardly has any crime going around. At that part of my life, I was really lonely since it was just me at home with no one while my mom is at work."_

 _"Even though I had no one to play with, my mom will always make feel better. She would cook my favorite food for me when she see me feeling down. There were times that I felt so lonely that I couldn't wait for my mom, so I would walk out of the house to go see her at her restaurant even though I wasn't suppose to back then; after all, I was just three or four years old back then and she was a little over protective."_

 _"Because I grew up alone and avoided everyone my age since they were jerks to me, it was kind of understandable I never learned the concept of love before I became a Pokemon trainer. Even though I didn't know much about love, I knew completely well that my mom needed more love than me."_

 _"After I became six years old, my mom thought I was old enough to be by myself. The moment she said that is the moment I burst out the front door. Even though I never had any human friends, I did befriend the Pokemon of the forest that is near the town. I had a blast playing with them all day, everyday. I had fun each day, but my least favorite part of the day is coming back home because... that is when I always find my mom crying."_

 _"Everytime I come home, I will always hear my mom crying in her room and I would be in her room in no time flat and give her a hug to make her feel better. I didn't know what she was crying about and she wouldn't tell me even when I asked. Each day, I grew curious, wondering what she was crying about. This went on for almost a year, I think. Anyway, one day I was out later than usual for what reason I forgot and when I got home that day, something was different."_

 _"My mom was mad. Mad at a picture which she was yelling at. Hearing her scream made me scared and it made me wonder if she was the same person. When I went into her room and ask why she was yelling, she looked at me surprised. Even though I saw hate in her eyes, I saw more sadness. She put away the picture and just hug me. That had to longest hug I ever had. After that, she told me to clean up while she makes dinner."_

 _"I was about to clean myself up, but I was too focused on that picture. So I waited in the bathroom to hear my mom go to the kitchen. Once I was certain she was there, I sneaked out the bathroom and into her room. I looked everywhere in her room without disturbing anything, but I found nothing."_

 _"Then I saw it and I was certain that picture was inside it. Her jewelry box, the only thing in her room that was locked. I was so close in finding out the reason my mom cries about, but I couldn't find the key. I was so close, so close that I was willing to break it open. So close that I didn't care that I would get in trouble if I broke my mom's stuff."_

 _"I didn't break it though...my mom heard me. I was afraid she was mad at me, but she wasn't. Far from it. She pulled out a key after she grabbed her jewelry box from me. She showed me the picture."_

 _"At first, I thought I looking at a picture of myself in the future. You couldn't blame me if you saw it as well. It was actually picture of a man who has the same hairstyle as me and same hair color as me. It was my dad she told me."_

 _"I asked where he was, but my mom ignored my question. Instead she told me to promise her to never to talk about dad again. Seeing her rip up that picture to shreds made me keep that promise and I still haven't broke it to this day."_

 **End of Monologue**

* * *

Mallow sat silently and listened carefully to every part of Ash's story with a frown on her face. She never knew Ash had a sad childhood growing up, alone with no siblings or any relatives like cousins or aunts and uncles. That can explain why he is so sociable, all alone in that small town where everyone in your age range is a jerk to you can make you long for friendly human contact. What made her even more sympathetic for him is the situation with his parents. Hearing his life story made her feel lucky, lucky to have a loving mother, a supportive father, and an amazing older brother.

"How is your dad got to do anything with your old crush?" She has a good feeling where this is going, but she is not the kind to jump into conclusion. From what she can gather, Ash never had anyone to talk to about his family situation. As a good friend, she is letting him talk out his problems. It is good to have someone to talk with about your personal problems.

Ash took a deep breath as he continued, "As I was growing up in Pallet Town, my mind was focused solely on one thing, becoming a Pokémon Master. I was so focused on that that I became ignorant on the concept of love. I until I met her."

"Your old crush."

"Yes and like I said, it was short lived." He reminded her. "After that, I figured out why my mom was so sad and why she was yelling at that picture of him."

After his encounter with Giselle, he questioned why he acted like that with her. It took him a while, but he managed to understand the concepts of love. Understandably he finally learned about marriage and, of course, the effects of the falling out on two divorced spouses. He figured out why he grew up with no father. That is why he hates his father so much; marriage is suppose to be an unbreakable bond and promise between two lovers and his father broke that promise and look at what that did.

That broken promise broke his mother and it is all his father's fault. If his mother's anger towards his father is any indication, it is definitely his father's fault.

After figuring things out, he called Professor Samuel Oak to confirm this, which the old Professor did. The Pokémon Professor expected this talk would come one day; after all, he is a close friend of Delia before she met her now ex-spouse and he knew Ash would mature during his travel and finding out the tragedy between Delia and her ex-husband. Ash was given the opportunity to learn the name of his father, he declined that.

According to everything Samuel Oak had told him, not only was Mr. Ketchum is a bad husband, he is also a horrible father. He left before being informed of Delia's pregnancy, he left before Ash was even born.

After discovering the secret his mother kept from him, Ash immediately grew a hatred and resentment towards the man who he had never met in his life and he hopes to keep it that way. All the loneliness and sadness he and his mom felt in his childhood, it was all because of that man.

Ash made a promise to himself. Be a better man than his own father, which is part of his oath to respect women. His mother worked hard by herself to raise him to be a fine young man and he will not disappoint her. He will not make the same mistake his father did.

"I... I now understand why you have high respect for women." Mallow had a urge to laugh when a remembered a certain line that was said earlier, but did not have the heart to. "Your mom...she sounds like an amazing woman."

Delia had all the time and reason to abuse or even get rid of one of the reminders of her ex-husband, but she did not chose that path. Instead she continued to raise and nurture Ash all by herself. Other than those tearful moments, there has never been any bad moments between the mother and son.

"Yeah... she really is." Ash trailed solemnly as he finished up his cup of iced tea.

* * *

 **With Lillie**

"[Hmmmm...]" Lusamine hummed at her office while her daughter stayed silent at her room. Lillie has just told her mother pretty much of everything that has happened, especially her first kiss and her promised date.

Lillie, the only daughter of the president of one of the biggest organization, was very certain she was about to die from lack of oxygen due to holding her breathe for so long. She was truly going to die from embarrassment. Also, she was kind of worried for Ash's safety right now. Her mother is the president of one of the biggest and most powerful company in the world and you can not just kiss the daughter like that.

"[Was he a good kisser?]"

 _ **Thump!**_ Huh, maybe you can.

"Ouch." Lillie groan in pain after she unintentionally banged forehead on her desk. Lusamine heard what happened on her end and was laughing quite devilishly. Lillie immediately got back up, "MOTHER! DON"T ASK SOMETHING SO PERSONAL!"

"[Now don't you yell at your own mother. I taught you and Gladion better than that.]" Lusamine lightly scolded while trying to restrain the laughter. "[Don't you even dare hang up on me.]"

Lillie cringed, her mother really knows her that well. She put her phone on speaker, no longer having the will to hold her own phone due to embarrassment. The mother heard silence so she continued.

"[Lillie, I'm quite disappointed in you. I can't believe you would be so cold to that boy.]" Lillie cringed again when she was reminded of her mistake. "[From what I heard from you, this Ash Ketchum sounds quite the gentleman. He was patient with you, kind to you, and even tried to warm up to you, but you ignored him like he was trash.]"

"Sor...sorry." The daughter apologized for her behavior.

The mother sighed, "[At least you two are sorting things out.]"

"Mm-hmm. Yes, that's correct."

Lusamine smiled at her end. Even though she is not there physically for her daughter, at least she could talk to her and take on the parent role which she has not taken on for almost a month now. Her last talk with her daughter was when she first enrolled in the Melemele Island Pokémon School. She was present when Lillie was dropped off on her first day. Even though she was busy for the rest of that day, she did had a video phone call with her daughter and all the friends she made at her class. She was so proud to see her make new friends.

"[So tell me...when's the wedding?]"

"MOTHER!"

* * *

 **Meanwhile with Ash**

Mallow placed the finished salad inside the picnic basket along with the sandwiches that Ash made. Before she place the latter inside, she taste-tested one of them to make sure they were okay.

She swallowed before saying, "Not bad...for a amateur." She joked.

Ash rolled his eyes. She has not yet stop joking at his cooking skills. He was basically making some sandwiches. It's not like he was cooking something complicated. Is making a sandwich even considered cooking?

"It is if you grill it, which you didn't. Thank Arceus." Again she made fun of Ash. "And we've seen how you prepared the salad, so I was quite worried when I asked you make some sandwiches. Heh~ What was I thinking? Thankfully you did a pretty good job."

"Ha-ha-ha." Ash mocked laughter, "Are you done?"

"Mmmmm...maybe." She again laughed at him when he made a face of defeat. Having enough fun for the day, Mallow went into a different subject, "So, where are the two you going for your picnic date?"

"Huh?" Ash said when he realized Lillie has forgot to inform him of the location. He frowned, he was also at fault. "Oh, Lillie was about to tell me, but she left in a hurry before she could. I guess she just forgot and I forgot to remind her."

Mallow nodded in understanding before pulling out her cell phone from her pocket. "Here, I have Lillie in my contacts. Call her."

He smiled, "Thanks." Ash said graciously before accepting her phone.

* * *

 **With Lillie**

"[I'm just saying that if this boy is willing to take responsibility, he should really commit to his words.]" Lusamine joked once again as she tries to restrain her laughs. The one thing she is regretting right now is that she did not made this a video call as she can only imagine the look on her daughter's heated face. "[I mean you're already having him to take you out, why don't you just have him marry y-]"

"Mother," Lillie cut her mother off, but quietly and kindly. "I would prefer it if we talk about a different topic."

"[Oh? What else could we talk about?]" Lusamine rhetorically asked with a hint of joke still in her voice. "[I rather we talk about the subject of your relationship with Ash. Speaking of Ash, how did he taste?]"

Lillie has just about had it, she was so close to hanging up on her mother when her cell phone rang again. Looking at the new caller ID on the screen, she smiled to see her best friend's name, Mallow.

 _"Oh, thank Arcues."_ Her friend to the rescue!

"Mother, Mallow is calling."

"[Put her on. I haven't seen her in a while too.]"

The daughter did just that and answered the second call. Lillie smiled, knowing that her best friend will help her from this embarrassing situation. However, she soon found that...

"[Hey Lillie. It's me.]" It was not her friend who was calling, it was Ash.

"Gah!" Lillie gasp out loud. Her situation just got worse. Her mother and Ash are now in a three-way call with her in the middle of it.

"[That doesn't sound like Mallow. Who is this?]" Lusamine asked in confusion. She was certain she heard her daughter said her best friend's name.

Ash raised a brow, wondering who asked that question, having never heard of that voice before. "[I'm Ash and I'm using Mallow's phone. Who am I talking to? I thought I dialed Lillie's number.]"

"[Oh! So you're Ash Ketchum!]" Lusamine yelled in surprise, her wicked smile now plastered into her face when she heard her daughter shriek. "[Nice to meet you. I'm Lusamine, Lillie's mother. Sorry dear, but you have called probably at the worst of times. You see my daughter and I were just having a delightful talk on the phone when you called and interrupted us.]"

Delightful? She was torturing her daughter by asking embarrassing questions about her love life. Lillie just sighs in defeat as she listens to the conversation between her mother and her friend. It was inevitable that her family will find out about Ash, although she have preferred to have been later rather than sooner.

"[I did? Sorry, my mistake. I'll call later.]"

Ash was about to hang up when the mother of his classmate stop him before he could. "[Now, now sweetie. My daughter was just talking about you and from what I heard, you sound quite the gentleman.]"

Ash blush, not knowing what to say to this, "[Uhhh...thanks.]" He is undoubtedly nervous from what she just said. Lillie has told her mother about him. Does that mean...?

"[Just so you know; other than Mallow, I have already met the rest of my daughter's friends. Although, I only met them through a videophone face to face. I would like to make an exception with you; how would you say that you and me meet over tea and cookies?]"

Ash, being the gentleman that he was proclaimed to be, accepted. "[Uh...Sure, sounds good. When should we met? It's your choice, I heard that you're quite the busy woman.]"

Lusamine giggled at the truthful fact, she does a very busy schedule. "[I'll tell you at a later date. Speaking of 'date', you better bring my daughter before 10 PM, young man.]"

"[WHAT! HOW DID YOU-!?]"

"I'm sorry, Ash." Lillie spoke for the first time since he called. "But I accidentally spilled our secret."

Ash grunted. He was hoping their secret would have be kept safe by just only Mallow, but it seems Lillie's mother has already found out. The only hope for him now is that his own mother does not find out or else he will be in an embarrassing situation with his mom. That will be too much for the experienced trainer. As much as he loves his mom, she can be a bit over the top.

"[Well goodnight, dear!]" Lusamine bid her goodbye for now. "[Have fun on your date. Just don't have too much fun. Although...I am getting a little old and having grandchildren in 9 months sounds nice right now.]"

Ash was at a lost for words, however Lillie wasn't.

"Mother!"

* * *

 **At the Aether Foundation**

"I can't believe you practically gave them permission to, to, to." Gladion tried to say, but he grunted at the image of his sister consummating with this Ash Ketchum. He has half the mind right now to fly over to Melemele Island, hunt down Ash, and... Well that is his business and his business alone. What is stopping him is that he is quite afraid of what his mother would do to him.

Lusamine may be a caring mother, but when her children are miss behaving, she really knows the perfect punishment.

The son was once again sitting on the chair in front of his mother's desk. The mother snapped her flip phone close before banging on her desk, laughing at the embarrassed yell from her daughter.

"Hehehe," Lusamine chuckled out every once of her fun before clearing her throat. She straighten and fix herself before saying, "Just wanted to get back at Lillie."

She is certain her daughter will do no such thing. After all, she did have 'the talk' with her daughter once she reached puberty and told her not to do anything serious until she marries the love of her life.

"For what?" Gladion asked in curiosity.

"For not telling me about her love life."

"You forbidden me to not interfere with her relationship, yet there you were being in the middle of it." Gladion complained.

"No, I was 'helping'." Lusamine stretched the last word. She notices her son's glare sharpened. She decided to talk about a different subject. "How is your search?"

"Not good so far, mother." Gladion answered. "Today, I've looked in every populated area on Melemele Island, but I have not seen any Rockets roaming around."

"That can mean this Rocket group are not hiding in the city. They must be in the forest." Lusamine deduced, which did not sit with her. She would have preferred this criminal group to be Hau'oli city rather than being close to Pokémon. "I'll have some workers help you."

"Understood."

* * *

 **Yeah, thought I should bring Gladion back one more time before this story ends.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **See you next chapter, which is definitely the last.**


	8. The Date: Beginning

**Sorry it took so long, I had to deal with the SAT before Summer started. I also had to deal with a couple of projects. About the previous AN, I'm no doctor or psychologist, but I don't think my depression was anything, but major because for one, the depression might have been one of the symptoms caused by caffeine withdrawal(Yeah, I drink a lot of tea everyday. I took a break from it for one day and look at what happened). Thankfully my caffeine withdrawal did not last long; Even so, depression hindered with the progression of my stories since the symptoms of depression along with caffeine withdrawal also included insomnia,** **sleepiness, and lack of concentration which made me lazy after I got over it. Well now all of that is in the past, so lets get on with the story.**

 **Now I said that this would be the last chapter, but I believe you guys have waited long enough and I don't want you to wait even longer since I'm currently looking for a summer job. I don't know how many chapters will be left, but we're definitely nearing the end before I continue onto the full adventure story. So I decided to split the Date chapter into parts.**

 **IMPORTANT NOTE: In canon, the TRio were given a promotion at the end of the Diamond and Pearl series. Well in this story, they did not, so they still have the Pokemon that they have in Sinnoh and yes, we will be seeing them.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Mallow had a raised eyebrow while she was witnessing Ash's phone call with Lillie. From her point of view, she was quite confused, wondering what her two friends were talking about. One she was sure of was that Lillie's mother is also in the conversation.

She was startled when Ash yelled, "WHAT!"

The green haired chef laughed at Ash's embarrassed face. She does not know what is going on, but she just relax and enjoy the show.

 **Phone Call Conversation**

"[I'm so sorry, Ash! I really wanted no one else to find out, but I couldn't keep things from my mother. I don't want to lie to her!]"

Not that it matter, but the little to no trace of anger, that the raven haired teen had, has disappeared. In truth, he was a little upset now that word about his relationship with Lillie will soon be known around the Alola region if this keeps out.

The raven haired teen took a deep breath and sighs. "[It's okay, Lillie. I understand. At least you have a good reason.]"

"[So...uh, what did you call for, Ash?]"

"[You forgot to tell me where we're having our date.]"

"[Oh! I'm sorry, Ash. I-]"

"[Stop. I don't want to hear that from you. It was an honest mistake.]" Ash cut her off, not wanting to heat her sad voice.

 _"[Patient with you]"_ Lusamine's words echoed into Lillie's head, which made her frown a bit. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"[Right,]" She said, "[Well, I thought we could go to Melemele Meadow.]"

"[Melemele Meadow? Never been there before.]" Ash admits.

"[It's a really beautiful there.]" Lillie informs him with a small smile as a part of her childhood flashed in her mind. "[I haven't been there in a while, actually. Since we're going on a picnic, I thought we should go somewhere where it's filled with flowers.]"

"[Sounds great.]" Ash said with sincere in his voice. "[So tomorrow, do I come pick you up and we go walk there?]"

"[It's pretty far, Ash.]" She informed him, "[My chauffeur and I will come and pick you up and Alfred will drop us off at Melemele Meadow. Oh! About the time, can go around at noon?]"

"[Sure, I have no problem with that.]" Ash said before going to a different subject. "[So...uh...Lillie, are you excited about tomorrow?]"

"[Well...to be honest, I'm a little nervous.]" Lillie admitted timidly. She has a smile on, though, indicating she is looking forward to it.

"[Don't be.]" Ash assures her. "[Don't worry, Lillie. I'll make sure your first date will be awesome.]"

Lillie giggled, "[It's also your first date.]"

"[Heh~]" He chuckled, "[True...but I'll still make it worth your while.]"

Lillie blush by how Ash said that, but she knew he did not mean it that way. She giggled a little more, "[Well goodnight, Ash.]"

"[You too. ]"

 **End of Phone Call**

After Ash hanged up, he saw Mallow pulled out a couple of glass bottles of Moomoo milk from the fridge and she places them inside the picnic basket. He gives her a confused look.

"Lillie's favorite drink." Mallow informed him.

Ash called out for his sentient Pokédex, who was playing with Pikachu and Bounsweet the whole time in the dining area.

"You called, bzzt?"

"How much does two bottles of Moomoo milk cost?" Ash asked.

Hearing that its owner is about to make a purchase, the Rotomdex pulled up Ash's bank account.

Mallow held up a hand, "Forget it. It's on the house."

Ash was about to argue, but he had a feeling she will argue back. He look at the time and notices it is getting quite late. He should probably get going before it gets too dark. He gathered the picnic basket before he proceeded to leave the establishment.

Before he left, Mallow gave him a couple more advice.

"If you're thinking of giving Lillie flowers, I suggest buying Pikake, her favorite flower." She said before a sly grin appeared on her face. "I also suggest you take an extra-long shower."

Glare. Although, he really can not blame him. He usually take a quick shower everyday so he would not be late for class.

"You're a real comedian, Mallow." Ash said sarcastically. He put on a smile, but the glare stayed. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem." She replied as she returned the smile. She then gave him a hug. "Night, Ash."

Ash wrapped his free hand around her. "Night, Mallow."

* * *

 **An Hour of Reading(With Lillie)**

Lillie sighed as she lied down her on her bed. She spread out and stretch her limbs with her face deep red. Normally studying was never arduous for the Alolan native, but she never bothered to read about anything...so intimate with it comes to her love life.

After resting for a good twenty minutes, she sat up from her bed with a determined glare on her face. Her date is tomorrow, she should prepare the clothes she will wear. Luckily for her, being born in a rich family has its perks. Whenever she has the time, she enjoyed shopping with her female friends, i.e Lana and Mallow. She would come home along with her chauffeur who would hold all of her bags filled with a wide assortment of clothes, all of which were then stored at her walk-in-closet.

She had her maid, Maria, to come with her to her closet, so she can get a second opinion from a fellow female. "Since you're going to a picnic, Miss Lillie, I suggest you should wear...something rather simple." Maria advised as she look through all the clothes, thinking which will be best for her mistress' date.

Lillie frowned a little when she look around her closet. She never knew she had this much clothes. This may take a while, although it only took ten minutes for Lillie to set her eyes on something. Her maid also thought it was perfect.

* * *

Meanwhile with Ash, the youthful teen immediately went up to his room after putting the picnic basket in the fridge to keep the food fresh. Usually on a Friday, the raven haired teen would stay up late and then sleep most of the day on the weekends, but tomorrow is rather important and he does not want to mess it up by being late because he overslept.

He was about to lie down on the make-shift bed, which is actually a couch, but he suddenly stop when he remembered something.

Going back down the ladder, he went to Kukui's video phone and dialed in his mother's number. While he waited for his mother to pick up, he mentally berated himself for forgetting. Ever since his first day in Alola, he made it a daily routine to call his mother since he is currently not on the road traveling. He may have never admitted it, but staying in one place is a great change of pace for him. While on the road, he sometimes worry for his mom, worried that she was feeling lonely. Sure he knows Mr. Mime and Prof. Oak are keeping her company, but he can not help, but worry for her well-being.

Due to the events of yesterday, he completely forgot to call Delia.

When he did get the opportunity to call her while on the read, the phone chat between the mother and son were always quite embarrassing for the latter. There were times she asked him if he changed his underwear regularly, did he met any cute girls, and there were even times she asked if he finally got a girlfriend. Fortunately for him, all of his friends have the decency to be away when he has those calls and Delia only asks embarrassing questions when it is just him, well except if that question regarding his change of underwear which she has no problem asking in front of his friends.

Now in Alola, their calls now involved the mother praising her son for doing well in school. Kukui told her himself that Ash has been doing great at school which was music to Delia's ears. Ash really love his talks with his mother since he always gets motivated by Delia into studying harder.

Finally she picked up. From the nightgown she is currently wearing, she might have been asleep before he called.

Ash gave her a smile, "Hey, mom. Hope I didn't wake you up."

"It's fine, honey. I just got changed." She assures him with her own smile. "I didn't hear anything from you yesterday. Did something happen?"

Her son nervously scratch the back of his head as he answered her question.

"I...I guess you can say that." He replied with a slight blush on his face.

Delia had a look of confusion at first when suddenly an idea clicked into her head. She raised an eyebrow with a sly smirk on her face.

"Oh? Tis 'something' wouldn't happen to be a 'she'?"

Caught red handed.

"Yeah..." Ash trailed for a second. "And her name is Lillie."

"The quiet and smartest girl in your class that you told me about?" Delia recounted. She giggled a little before saying, "Well I hope you treat her nicely."

"Don't worry, mom. I will."

* * *

 **The Next Day**

The next morning, both Ash and Lille had to break their daily routine on a Saturday. They both woke up early at 6:00 am in the morning, which is really early considering it is a weekend and barely a handful of people are awake in the small island of Melemele; commonly, Ash would wake up at around 10 while Lillie wakes about a hour earlier than that. Both went to take a shower soon after getting out of bed. Although, usually Ash would go outside and jog to get the blood circulating and Lillie would pull out a random thick book from her bookshelf and read the whole thing to wake up her mind before she starts her day. Today, they both immediately got up to take a morning shower.

For Ash's daily routine on a Saturday would always involved taking a quick shower after his jog, eat breakfast, and train the whole day while doing some studies. He would sometimes do some errands for his guardians which is usually getting groceries. Today though, Ash took an extra long shower, making himself presentable for today. He is evening planning not to do any training or any physical exercise.

For Lillie, she would just stay in her house since her female friends are usually busy in the weekends and are doing their own things. She just study the whole day. Today is different; she is pampering herself to prepare for one of the most important events in a girl's life: Their first date.

* * *

 **With Ash**

For Kukui, he found it bit odd that he heard the shower running so early in the morning, especially at this day of the week. He did his best to stay in bed, but it seems the running water woke up the Pokémon occupants in the house. Grumbling, he got out of bed due to the playing Pokémon who were also begging for some breakfast. He immediately started his coffee maker before filling up the Pokemon food bowls. Regular Pokemon kibble for Pikachu and Rockruff and a bowl of fruits for Rowlet.

"Ash, what were you doing in the bathroom for so long?" Kukui asked the young teen once the said teen came to the kitchen along with his living Pokedex.

The teacher took a moment to take in Ash's relaxed hair **{Imagine his hair is styled like how deviantart artist Kisarasmoon draws him, but a bit more strands poking out downward like spikes}**. He also noticed that Ash is not in his usual attire.

Kukui gave a hearty laugh. "Okay, who are you and what have you done to Ash."

The Ash Ketchum that he got know about for the past month was someone who sleeps in, and does a lot of exercise and Pokémon training on a daily basis. The Ash he knows would never style his messy hair and take so long in the bathroom to smell this good. If this keeps up, the next thing he will know, Ash would be wearing a fancy suit right now, but he's not.

Right now Ash is wearing a dark grey t-shirt that is underneath a short-sleeved, unopened zip-up hoodie, which is in the same colors and pattern as his regular shirt, but the short sleeves are completely blue. To go well with his hoodie, he is wearing a pair of cargo shorts that is in dark grey that matches his sneakers.

Ash chuckled a bit, "Right, you don't now. It's sort of a long story, but here's the shorter version: I have a date."

Once he was informed, Kukui quickly ruffled up Ash's relaxed hair, turning it back to its natural unruly form. Ash was surprised by his actions and in reflex, he jerked back away from him.

"Hey!" Ash yelled, "It took me a while to get my hair that way!"

Unknown to most people, his hair is actually looks that way naturally. He may look like he has bed head, but it has been that may ever since he grew a full head of hair. There were times he had styled his hair, but it takes a really long time. His hair is stubborn as he is.

"I'm no fashion expert, but I suggest you should go with your natural look." His teacher advised him. "Believe me, you hair being combed back does not suite you. Now, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but for Arcues' sakes please put a hat on. Honestly, it feels like I'm talking to someone else."

"That's what I tried telling him, bzzt!" The Rotomdex yelled. "He really looks like a different person without a hat on!"

Ash grumbled at the two. Can't he try on a new look without getting criticized; honestly, it feels like those times when he gets lectured by May and Dawn on fashion. Although, he can't blame them, wearing a hat practically became his natural feature.

He went up to his room and when he came back, he now wears a black version of his Alolan hat with the symbol blue.

Kukui has to admit, the black hat really brings out his chocolate-brown eyes.

"So," Kukui said as he slung an arm around Ash's neck and pull him closer, eager to know. "Who's the lucky lady?"

Ash got out of his arm, "You know her." Was all he said before going into the kitchen to get some food.

"What? Too embarrassed to tell me something a little deeper than that?" Kukui said with a sly grin as he followed him.

"No..." Well a little. "I'm just worried rumors might start if I told you."

Kukui was offended that Ash would think that, but he understood the joy of having privacy. He let that one go. The teacher went back to drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper.

The raven haired teen decided to eat light, so he went with a large bowl of cereal, eight slices of toast, and a large bowl of fruits. Yes people, that is considered a light breakfast for Ash Ketchum.

* * *

 **With Lillie**

As the saying goes, 'Like mother, like daughter' and Lillie most definitely resembles her mother for as far back as she was still a little girl. Other than the colors of their eyes and hair, the one thing that links Lillie as Lusamine's daughter are their gargantuan mass of hair. Like her mother, Lillie takes great pride in her hair. Every morning in a school day, she would brush her large mass of hair so every single strand are in place and none are sticking when looked at closely.

Although she might not have much muscle, she wont quit until her hair is completely fixed even if it felt like her arms felt like they are about fell out of their sockets.

She set her hair brush down. She then proceeded to braid her hair, which she was so careful on doing so each side of her hair will look close to perfect symmetry. She took a deep breath and smiled as she was done with the arduous chore of making herself look perfect, especially for today.

"There."

She then stood in front of a full length mirror to see herself from top to bottom. In her signature colors, bright white and light blue, she wore a romper, that has a floral pattern, and a pair of white Mary Jane shoes that were customized to have her family symbol at the toes.

Lillie put on a smile, "Perfect."

Wait a minute, she thought. Something was missing. Turning her head to her desk, she saw her large sun hat. Lille giggled at herself for forgetting.

Coming back from her desk, now with her sunhat hat where it is suppose to be, everything was now perfect.

* * *

 **With Ash**

After breakfast was finished, Ash decided to follow Mallow's advice; so he went out to get Lillie a bouquet of flowers. If his memory is any good, pikake are the names of the flowers that Lillie is fond of. He was about to leave through the front door with Pikachu jumping up onto his usual spot, Ash's shoulder.

Ash looks at his long time partner as a thought came to mind.

He and Lillie are going on a date; that is obvious, but can he bring his Pikachu with him? He can leave his Rotomdex behind, but should he leave his starter behind. After thinking about it, he probably should due to Lillie's fear. Sure he can take Pikachu with them and have him be somewhere else that was close around the area, but he is kind of worried that Team Rocket might be around and he would not be around to save his starter and Ash did not want their date to be interrupted. And he can't keep Pikachu inside his Pokeball.

Since Team Rocket is targeting Pikachu directly, he probably should leave him behind with Kukui-sensei. That is probably for the best.

He should at least bring one of his Pokemon with him in case any wild Pokemon or any sort of trouble comes along. The only other Pokemon he has with him is Rowlet, who can patiently stay inside his Pokeball, but he is sort of a bad choice during the day due to the owl Pokemon's nocturnal nature and is also inexperienced in the way of battling.

 _"Hmmmm, maybe I should call Prof. Oak and ask for one of my Pokémon. Yeah, maybe I should. I haven't seen any of my other Pokemon since the Sinnoh League."_

After he was eliminated from the Sinnoh League, some of his Pokemon were sadden in more ways than one. Ash has promised all of his Pokemon, save for his Sinnog team, to use them in all of his battle at least once, but he could not fulfill that promise after he was defeated by Tobias.

Looks like he can finally live up to that promise.

* * *

 **After coming back from the nearest flower shop.**

"You want me to look after Pikachu?" Asked Kukui.

"Yeah. I'm sort of afraid that Team Rocket might interrupt my date if they see me with Pikachu."

"Hmmm" The teacher hummed. "I see. You have a point there, but that would only leave you with Rowlet and you haven't trained him much. Even if Pikachu is not with you, there's still a possibility that those bozos will still follow you."

Only after meeting them for the first time, the Alolan professors also see the trio to be incompetent people. Despite their useless attributes, the Pokémon that they currently have in their possession are a Carnivine, a Mimikyu, a Seviper, a Wobbuffet, and a Yanmega (and Meowth, depending if you can count him). Other than their strength in numbers, Rowlet will be at a disadvantage with bug, flying, and poison and the fact that Rowlet only knows two basic moves.

Ash smiled, "Already got that covered. I just to need a few minutes with your Pokémon Transporter."

Kukui was surprised at the idea, but put on a big smirk. "Sure, go right ahead."

While Ash made the call to Prof. Oak's laboratory, Kukui brought up a question, "I heard from Prof. Oak that you have quite the collection of Pokémon. So how come you haven't brought any of your old Pokémon to Alola? That question has been bugging me and it's not like you're on the road so it wouldn't hurt to have any of them here."

"Well for one, I can only carry six Pokémon." Ash started to explain his reasons. "If I haven't caught Rowlet, I would have five of my old buddies with me along with Pikachu. I don't want any of my Pokémon to feel left out and it'll be quite the hassle to keep switching my Pokémon around. Also, even if Prof. Oak gives you permission to be my sponsor while my stay here, you don't much room for all of my Pokémon."

If only he did not accidentally capture thirty Tauros, then maybe Kukui would have plenty of space. Ash is not the kind to release without a good reason. Without one, that will be just abandonment.

Kukui nodded at his explanation, understanding the reasons.

Finally Prof. Oak's face appeared on screen. "Why hello Ash. How are your studies in Alola doing?"

Ash smiled, "Hey Professor. I'm doing fine with school, but that's not why I'm calling you for."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

Ash decided to hold the truth for now, "Well something came up and I'll be needing a couple of my Pokémon."

The old Professor's eyes widen. "Well this is a surprise. What for exactly?"

The young trainer decided it was best to keep his date a secret from Prof. Oak for now. Besides, his mother might inform him of Lillie soon.

"I'm sort of in a hurry, professor."

The old Oak chuckled, "Oh, alright. Anyone in particular you want me to send?"

That is a good question.

One from his Sinnoh team? Nah, they are probably still enjoying their time off ever since the last league he participated in. Although, maybe Buizel. The Sea Weasel Pokemon is his one of his most combat ready Pokemon, who is up for any battle. Now that he was reflecting back in the past, it felt like that he did not really give Buizel much attention compared to his other Pokemon. Sure he helped it learn Ice Punch, but that training was short compared to his training with Gible, who had troubling mastering a very powerful move. He also had to divert his attention to Torterra, who had to learn a whole new battling style since evolution hindered it a lot more than good. The Sea Weasel is a definite yes.

How about one of his Hoenn Pokemon? Perhaps Glalie, who was just a Snorunt when he first met it and was also the last Pokemon he caught in Hoenn. It has a playful personality, but can be a powerhouse when it is serious. He also promised Glalie to have a battle in the Sinnoh League, but there were some changes, so it never got the chance to participate. Glalie is a maybe due to its personality and the fact hat an Ice type might not do well in a region that is famous for its scorching sun. Ash could use him as a back up though.

He was about to think over his Pokemon from Jhoto and Kanto when he noticed the time and since it will take some time for Prof. Oak to get the Pokemon he wanted, he settled on the two.

"Buizel and Glalie sounds good."

The aged Pokemon professor nodded at the young trainer before leaving the screen and telling Ash that he'll be back quick. Fortunately for the old Oak, both Buizel and Glalie were obedient enough to come at the sound of his voice. Buizel is a naturally born warrior and training under Ash has made him even stronger when it was still wild, even more when it was still with Dawn; obviously, it is not the kind of Pokemon who slack off a lot, living in Prof. Oak corral has made it long to be back with its trainer. For Glalie, it really misses its trainer and freezing him like the old days and, of course, wanted to battle under him again.

"Here they are, Ash." Prof. Oak said as he showed them inside their respective Pokeballs. He places them in the transporter one by one as they were sent to Alola through teleportation.

"Thanks, professor."

"By the way, Ash. You will be in for a surprise."

The raven haired teen raises an eyebrow, "A surprise? What do you mean?"

The professor just chuckled, "You'll see."

And that was all he said before ending the call.

* * *

 **With Lillie**

The blonde is now on her way to pick up her date. As usual, she is at the back seats of the limousine while her chauffeur drove her to her teacher's house. In her lap was the assigned Pokemon egg inside the incubation capsule.

Also, in her free hand was her cell phone. It was her mother calling, again. She grimace when she remembered what happened last yesterday. Her thumb reached for the decline, but hesitated and instead accepted the call.

 **Phone Call Conversation**

"[Hello? Mother?]" Her voice was hesitant, nervous about this phone call will lead to.

"[Hello, Lillie. I'm calling about Ash.]" And that what was she worried about.

"[Mother, can we please not have a repeat of what happened last night?]" The young blonde prayed.

Lillie heard chuckling at the other end, "[Relax, sweetie. I just want you to pass down a message.]"

The daughter sigh in relief as she exhaled the breathe that she has been holding since from the start of the call.

"[Thank you-Uh! I mean, what is it?]"

"[Tell him that I would like to meet up with him in about two weeks.]"

"[Okay, alright. Will you two be meeting some where in Melemele Island?]"

"[No, actually. I would like to meet him here.]"

"[Here?]" What does her mother mean by 'here'?

"[Yes. Here,]" Lusamine repeated, "[I would like to meet him here in the Aether Foundation.]"

"[What!?]" An outsider, who is not a worker for her mother in anyway, is being invited to the Aether Foundation? "[Really? But I thought-!?]"

"[I'll be sending someone to come and pick him up. Until then, goodbye sweetie and enjoy your date!]"

 **End of Phone Call**

* * *

When Ash saw the familiar limousine pull over in front of the house, he checked himself one last time before neatly standing up straight to make himself look presentable. He took a couple of deep breathes to control his rapidly beating heart.

Kukui almost died from drowning on his third cup of coffee when he saw the vehicle parked in front of his house. He, too, is familiar with the limousine. There is only person he knows who rides that particular vehicles and that's...

"LILLIE!?" It was a good thing that he was inside his house or else it would have been awkward for him being in the middle.

"Calm down, professor or else you will burn yourself." The Rotoemdex advised. It was told to also stay behind with Pikachu.

"Pika."

From her usual seat inside her limo, the blonde bookworm was pretty sure that she was about to die. Not due to heatstroke because from the surrounding heat(the limo has air condition), but due to the every ounce of her blood rushing to her face, lighting up her face like a Christmas tree. No doubt her sunhat will not provide sufficient shade to hide her blushing face. Ash really cleans up well.

She shakes her head and put on a determined glare. No, she not give up so soon. Her chauffeur was about to open her door for her, but she got out the limo herself.

It was a good thing that Ash kept a good grip on the bouquet of pikake, but his jaw dropped though. The romper, that Lillie is currently wearing, is showing a little too much skin for Ash's eyes, especially around the leg area, which is where he could not resist not looking at. She really has some slender l-

 _"Okay! That's enough you!"_ Ash mentally screamed at his perverted side.

"Ash?"

The said teen opens his eyes and blushes when he now noticed that his date is directly in front of him.

"L-Lillie!" He stuttered, which Lillie did noticed since she was also nervous. Ash then brought up the flowers, "Uh...here! These are for you."

The blonde gasp at the sight of the beautiful bouquet of her favorite flowers. Her open gasped mouth soon formed a smile as she accepted the flowers.

"Th-Thank you, Ash."

The blonde took a couple of whiffs while Ash mentally did a fist pump. So far so good.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the house, the occupants were enjoying the show.

"Did you get it, Rotom?"

"I did, professor." The living machine confirmed as it turned to show the picture it took. "Please give me your honest answer for I never gathered any data on humans before."

Kukui smirked at the digital image of Ash handing the bouquet to Lillie. He gives it a thumbs up and so did Pikachu. The teacher looked back outside to continue watching his dating students before they left his front yard.

* * *

Ash then notices the egg incubator inside the limo. Lillie noticed where his eyes were looking at.

"Oh! I hope you don't mind, but since I'm responsible for it, I need to bring the egg with me at all times."

The raven haired teen smiled. He understand completely since he did took care of two Pokémon ever since they were just eggs.

"Sure, as you long don't mind me bringing three of my Pokémon with me." He showed her the miniaturized Pokeballs that were clipped to the sides of his cargo shorts.

"Hm?" Lillie hummed when she noticed Pikachu is not present. According to her memories, Ash currently has only two Pokémon with him, Pikachu and Rowlet. The electric mouse would be out right now, but instead she noticed it peaking outside the window.

Kukui, Pikachu, and Rotom immediately got out of sight when they saw her looking at them. Lillie blushed when she realized that they were being spied on. She could not blame them, though.

She turned back to Ash, "Isn't Pikachu coming with you?"

"Nah, I thought it would be best that he doesn't come with us." He told her as he unclipped his Pokeballs that were on him. "Instead, I'm brining these guys. Come on out!"

In three flashes of red light came out an orange sea weasel, an icy glaring face, and a familiar looking grass owl.

"Bui!"

"Gla-lie."

"Kooh!"

"Gah!" Lillie immediately took cover behind Ash when all three appeared out of their Pokeball. Ash chuckled a little; even he has to admit that Lillie's cowering form is cute and funny.

The Face Pokémon was just about to float over toward its trainer just when Ash glared at it before it could come any closer. Glalie jerked back to where it was, it knows when its trainer is not playing around.

Ash lightened up when he noticed that his Pokémon calmed down. He looks back at Lillie, "Don't worry. These guys are friendly, just don't make Buizel mad."

"I would never make anyone mad!" Lillie protested from behind him with a frowning face. She then looks at the Pokémon in front of them, she recognizes the ice type, but the water one. "What's a Buizel?"

"I guess Buizels are not native here." Ash points out the obvious. "Lillie, Buizel here is a Pokémon that I got in trade with a friend from Sinnoh."

 _"Sinnoh?"_ She has heard of that region before. The bookworm wanted to voice out her questions, but she was too mesmerized by the foreign Pokémon. If there is one thing she likes learning about Pokémon is learning about foreign Pokémon.

"Guys, this Lillie." Ash introduced the girl, who was peaking from behind him. "Today, I need you two to be in your best behavior, so stay in your Pokeball unless I call you out. Understand?"

The two yelled out in their unknown language. To an inexperienced trainer, it was just gibberish, but to Ash, all he hears is agreement.

"Good. Return for now." He beamed them back into their respective tiny spheres. He turned back to Lillie. "So... should we go now?"

"Y-yes. I do believe th-that we should be heading off n-now."

* * *

 **As you can see, I gave the Rotomdex a feature, which is functioning like a debit card. If you read my other Pokémon story, I gave the Rotomdex have the function to access its owner's bank account, I thought I should do the same here for convenience purposes. I'm not sure this is a thing in the Anime world or fandom, but I'm making it a thing in this story, which is Pokédex functioning more than just encyclopedias.**

 **What do you think of Ash's attire on his date. To be honest with you, I really do not like his canon SM attire, I prefer the ones in fanart. The canon shorts? I don't like the style of it. The hat? They could have at least kept it black and blue like Sun's (Whose clothes were transferred to Ash in the anime). I could say more, but that will take too much time. From this point on, Ash's attire (in this story) will be the one from his date. Lillie's attire will remain unchanged.**

 **Please leave a review :)**


	9. Bonus: Flashback

**Bonus because I don't know where to put this in the next chapter.**

 **Flashback**

 _"Also, I advised you to follow Ash Ketchhum." Lusamine said to her son._

 _"I already did that, mother." He told her. "So far, I haven't_ _saw anyone suspicious around the area that he is in, which isn't good since we now don't know what they are planning."_

 _"I see." Lusamine thought it over, "Even so, according to the police records, this Team Rocket group have been after Ash and his Pokémon for years. They may be low lives, but they're resilient, a horrible combo to come by. So I'll be needing you, with the workers, to look after Ash Ketchum for tomorrow at least."_

 _To the untrained eye, no one could have notice Gladion's everlasting glare sharpened the very slightest. It is taking every ounce of his willpower to hold back._

 _"Isn't tomorrow his date with..." He dare not to finish that sentence._

 _Lusamine sighed, "I have no time to argue with you right now, so I'll be willing to work out a compromise."_

 _"Hmmm?" He hummed for her to continue._

 _"If you restrain yourself on your mission, for tomorrow at least, I'll give you permission to meet up with him without me getting in your way as you long don't let Lillie see you do your business with him."_

 _"Deal." He agreed to that in a heart beat._

 _And with that, Gladion left her office without another spoken. What he did not know, Lusamine had a plan just in case her son went back on his promise. She pressed the button on her desk to call up her secretary._

 _"Gladice, call up my best battle-ready employees to my office and also get Hobbs here ASAP."_

 _"Right away, ma'am."_

* * *

 _Running a organization that is built specifically for healing and housing Pokémon, it is understandable that many of the Aether workers are not strong Pokémon trainers. It is true that they command a variety of Pokémon, but what they lack is in terms of individual strength. One is weak, but together they are a force to be reckoned with; even so, it is quite easy to overpower if their opponent last long enough since the Aether workers' Pokémon were not trained enough to last long._

 _Lusamine don't blame her worker for being so weak. She has hand picked her all of her workers and all every single one share her views. What they all have in common are their pacifist side and dislike for poaching and abusing Pokémon, but they all knew that they won't be much help if they don't toughen up._

 _She called up for her best team, who, like the rest of the Aether employees, are strong as a team, but no so when divided._

 _She told them their mission and they all agreed to partake and followed her words._

 _Once they all left, Hobbs came in._

 _Lusamine smiled at the old man who has a kind heart. Coming around from her desk, she went up to him and they both shared a hug._

 _"Hobbs." She greeted. "It's good to see you, I know I talked to you the other day, but it's nice to see someone you know in person."_

 _The old butler chuckled, "I believe you should follow your words. The young miss has missed you, Mistress."_

 _Lusamine's smile became a sad one, "I know, I know." She look back at him, now with a look that describes authority. "I got something important for you to do."_

 _Hobbs put on a determined face, "What will it be, Lady Lusamine?"_

 _"I need you to look after Gladion."_

 _"I don't see what you mean." Said a confused Hobbs, "The young master can surely take care of himself."_

 _"Does not what I mean, Hobbs." Lusamine told him. "Do you know about Team Rocket?"_

 _"Ah yes, I have heard words about them and none were pleasant."_

 _"Indeed." Lusamine agreed. "A Team Rocket group is currently in Melemele Island and they are targeting Ash."_

 _"Ash Ketchum!" Hobbs exclaimed, "Oh no, that poor boy."_

 _"You don't know the half of it," Lusamine said, leaving off of how long Team Rocket were after Ash, "I'm having Gladion spy on Ash to see if they are still targeting him."_

 _"But young miss Lillie has a date with the boy to-!" He stopped when he figured out his mistress' order. "Oh, I see."_

 _"Yes, I need you watch after Gladion and stop him if he tries interfere their date." Lusamine ordered him._

 _H_ _obbs bowed at her, accepting the mission._

 _"Then that will be all, you may go." Lusamine then turned her back to him to get back to her work on her desk._

 _"Lady Lusamine," Hobbs cleared his throat. "I would like to ask a question, one that has been eating at me since last night."_

 _The Aether Foundation president gave him a look that practically says, 'What is it?'_

 _"What exactly do you think of Ash Ketchum."_

 _Lusamine closed her eyes and giggled, "I think he would be the perfect boy for my daughter."_

 _Hobbs' eyebrow raised up high, startled. Coming from a rich family, there were many suitors, from other rich families, coming up to Lillie and asking for her hand in marriage. At least 50 came from the last year, but all failed at one obstacle, Lusamine Aether who rejected not only the male suitors, but also their families._

 _"Lady Lusamine, does that mean?"_

 _"Yes, Hobbs. I have already considered giving him my blessing."_

 _"What!?"_

 _Lusamine chuckled at his shocked face. She held up her index and middle together, motioning him to shush up._

 _"That will be our a secret. You may go now."_


	10. The Date: Middle Part 1

**Well I got retcon when Gladion appeared in his debut, but it still seems to me that Lillie's family is still pretty normal to me.**

 **Anyway, I never wrote a battle involving Pokemon before, so I hope you guys enjoy this.**

 **Just so you guys won't be confused, here's the list of Aether Employees who will appearing and the Pokémon that they own respectively.**

 **Michael: Flygon**

 **Kenta: Golem**

 **Rachel: Mandibuzz**

 **Susan: Araquanid**

 **Also, for those who actually love the TRio; I'm sorry, but I'm getting rid of those guys. They really annoy me. Let me also say that I am sorry if their banter and antic are not as good in the anime.**

 **You won't be seeing James' Mime Jr. because...well lets just say James sent it back to his grandparents. Believe me, the fate of the TRio will traumatize the little Pokémon if it stayed with James and I'm not a heartless person.**

* * *

A good distance away from the regional professor's home, hiding behind some trees and bushes were Gladion and Hobbs. Accompanying the two were two men and two women, all four were wearing all-white uniforms with many pockets.

Gladion watch as the limo drove away, leaving the area. Hobbs stood by him as he watch the limo disappear from sight.

The older brother of Lillie Aether is currently wearing his casual attire, which is a shred-up black hoodie with a pair of matching black pants that has tears.

Hobbs unconsciously grimaced at the young master's clothing.

He shook his mind from that, he really needs to keep an eye on his mistress' son. Gladion is a born Pokémon trainer and if it weren't for Lusamine's pacifist side, she be proud of him even more. Hobbs may not have seen Gladion battle much, but he has seen and heard of how powerful and destructive Gladion can be against his opponent, especially against the kind of people he hates the most: Pokémon abusers and poachers.

The aging butler has seen what Gladion does to those people after a battle, the pictures weren't pretty. That is the reason why Lusamine would sometimes have someone to watch over Gladion so they can hold him back should he really want to seriously hurt someone. Poachers may be vile people, but they are still human and as humans they must face justice, not vengeance.

Now, Hobbs has seen what Gladion does not to poachers, now what would he do to the boy who dates his sister?

The old butler shivered as he shakes his head, he rather not know and he would make sure it never happens. He looks back at his young master, who has just pulled out a Pokeball.

Gladion looks to see if the coast was clear and it was seeing that his sister's teacher is no longer looking outside. He then looks back at the direction where the limo was heading.

"That should be enough of a head start." Gladion said as he released his Pokémon, a Braviary. The large aviary was big enough to carry at least two people. Its trainer climbed up onto its back along with Hobbs, who hitched a ride.

Gladion points to the direction where his sister was heading, "Fly up and follow the first limo you see."

"Brave!" With just one flap of its large wings, they were off the ground and into the skies.

The Aether employees followed the young master by flying on a Flygon and a Mandibuzz; two employees were riding on each flight-enabled Pokémon.

* * *

 **With Ash and Lillie**

The car ride was long, silent, and awkward considering the two at the back were not speaking to each other nor were they looking at each other. Between them, separating the two was the picnic basket and on Lillie's lap was the Pokémon egg.

Lillie would occasionally and hesitantly look at Ash, who feel that someone was watching and unconsciously look at Lillie, then they look away each other when they both noticed that they were staring into each other's eyes for a moment, and the cycle resets itself. This has been going on for the past 15 minutes.

This time, Lillie hesitantly look at the picnic basket. That picnic basket keeps reminding her that she really is going on a date and her date is her first kiss. She madly blushes at the possibilities at what will occur. Obviously, they might end up kissing since she really wants to taste-!

 _"Oh my goodness! Calm down, Lillie!"_ She yelled in her head at herself. She took a couple of nice and calming deep breathes which went unnoticed since Ash was thinking in his head. _"Okay, okay, calm down."_

While Lillie was calming herself down, Ash thought it would be better to take the initiative. Taking a deep breathe, he said

"So-uh, Lillie, where and what exactly is Melemele Meadows?"

"Huh?" Lillie said when she brought out of her mind, "Oh, well do you remember Hobbs' Oricorio?"

"Of course I do." Ash replies as he thought back to his Rotomdex's analysis, "If I remember correctly, Oricorio's form changes depending on the flower that they sip?"

The blonde nodded with a smile, "That's correct, Ash. However, it can't be any nectar from any flower that they sip on. For Oricorio to change form, they must sip the nectar from Safron-color flower."

"Safron-color flower?"

Lillie nodded, "Yes and the name fits because Safron-color flower comes in four different color: pink, purple, red, and yellow."

"Woah, really?" The Kanto native was amazed. "So Oricorio can change into four different forms. Does that mean its type change as well depending what form it takes?"

"That's correct, Ash." She confirmed with a smile, "However, you can only find one color of Safron-color flower from each of the islands that makes up Aloa. In Melemele Island, you can only find yellow in Melemele Meadow."

"And that's where we're going!" Ash exclaimed, "Does that mean we get to see a field of Oricorios?"

Lillie jerked her head back and cringed at the thought of being surrounded by wild Pokémon. Ash notices this and frowned, he was so excited of seeing a field Pokémon that he completely forgot about Lillie's phobia.

Not the first time someone forgot about her fear. When Lillie first started attending the Pokémon School, everyone at her class, except for Mallow, had to get use to someone who has a fear of Pokémon when they were informed that the new girl has a phobia of said fear.

The first incident was when Mallow introduced Lillie to Lana. The water Pokémon lover gave the rich blonde a warm welcome and Lillie did the same; the two started to hit things off when the two girls went into a conversation about water Pokémon, they were so distracted that they did not notice Lana's partner, Popplio, wanting to give Lillie a welcome hug. Lillie ended up frozen like a statue for a moment.

The same thing happened with Sophocles' Togedemaru. Luckily, Kiawe did not let his Turtonator any where the blonde since he respected Lillie's determination to be in the Pokémon School despite being surrounded by what she fears.

"Sorry."

His date took a deep breathe, "It's okay. Anyway, we're not really going to be in Melemele Meadow."

"We're not?"

"We're not." She confirms, "You see-"

* * *

 **In the Skies**

"Oh, I see where they're heading." Gladion said after seeing where the limo is heading for. "Braviary, change of plans, go to Melemele Meadow."

When the large aviary increased his speed, the Pokémon following behind him did the same.

Hobbs raised an eyebrow, "Melemele Meadow? Now why would miss Lillie be heading towards that place?"

It does not make sense to the old butler. After all, due to his young mistress' phobia, she hardly goes to any location with wild Pokémon around without someone with her. Sure she has Ash coming with her, but Melemele Meadow seems to be the last place she would want her first date to take place.

"That's because Lillie is heading somewhere close to Melemele Meadow. They're heading to-"

"Master Gladion!" Called from an Aether employee who goes by the name of Michael. "Down there!"

* * *

 **With Ash and Lillie**

"-there's this place near Melemele Meadow that my brother showed me once when I was just seven years old. I remember that were no Pokémon around since it was so quiet."

Even though the memory of the place is almost a decade old, Lillie still has a good memory of it with some vague details. She remembered where it was and how to get there. There were many flowers, not just the flowers that she mentioned earlier, but a wide assortments of flowers coming in different shapes and colors.

More memories flowed as she continued to focus on that day.

There was this small pond which is where her brother, Gladion, showed her how to do skipping stones. She mentally giggled at herself when she remembered that she was never able to make a rock skip that day and all her throws just sunk to the bottom.

She smiled at the bittersweet memory of her younger-self, before she fears Pokemon, playing with the Oricorios that followed her and her brother.

Lillie then frowns.

"I hope you don't mind us going there."

Deep down, she was sort of ashamed that she was using her first date as an excuse to go somewhere that she has only been to once.

Ash just smiled at her, "I'm fine with that, Lillie."

Lillie look at the Ash in surprise, "Really? You don't mind?"

"Sounds like you really missed that place. Besides, you said it'll quiet which is great cause it means it will only be you and me." He kept the smile on to show her that it does not bother him.

The blonde girl just smiled back at him, happy to know that her date is okay with it.

* * *

"Out of all the days that we managed to escape from that oversized giant stuffed teddy bear, the twerp just had to pick today to go where we were before!" Complained a grown man who has lavender hair.

"You're telling me." Came from a talking Meowth, "I never thought we could escape from the big guy."

"I'm tried," A woman with a long magenta hair complained, "Can you two fella carry me?"

"Be careful what you say, Jess." The man said, "Or else Bewear will appear and carry us away faster then you can say 'Pikachu.'"

"Uh...never mind, I think I'm good."

"Good call there, James." Meowth complimented.

The trio has recently out of commission due to one thing, Bewear. The giant bear has been keeping them at its cave for a good while now. The strong arm Pokémon would not leave them for a second; but luckily for them, Bewear had to go somewhere far because the food source, that it usually goes to, has mysteriously run dry. Obviously it went off searching to find another food source. Giving Team Rocket enough time and the opportunity to escape.

Unfortunately for them; right when they spotted the twerp, they saw him get into a vehicle which sped off to the direction of where they came from and it took them hours of walking to get to Kukui's house.

Angered by their own misfortune, they quickly ran at that direction, but all their energy quickly disappeared after a good ten minute run. They may have the perseverance to chase after a trainer for over five years, but they lack the stamina to keep up.

Before they could take another step closer to their direction, they were interrupted by a green energy beam that blocked their path. The green beam may have missed them, but the shockwave that was created knocked them to the ground.

"Hey!" Jessie groaned as she rubbed the back of her head. "What's the big idea?"

"Yeah! Who's the jerk who sent a Dragon Breath at us?" Meowth rhetorically said.

James look around before something up in the sky caught his eye.

"Look! Up there!"

His comrades look at where he was pointing and the found a familiar dragon Pokémon hovering along side with a vulture Pokémon. People in white uniform were riding on them.

"Alright," Jessie began with a threatening tone, "You got three seconds to explain yourself or else we-"

One of the females, who is the owner of the Mandibuzz, interrupted the Team Rocket member.

"Like you can order us around." Rachel growl with hate in her voice. "Mandibuzz, use Dark Pulse!"

The bird-of-prey looking Pokémon fired a beam of dark and purple circles at the trio, which knocks them out of their feat again.

Jessie quickly recovered from that attack. Now completely provoked, she pulled out a Pokéball and threw it.

"Seviper, Poison Tail on those annoying people!"

A snake appeared and it instinctively went after the ones in the sky as its tail glowed purple.

The Fang Snake was about to land the attack, but was intercepted by the other Pokémon in the sky.

"Flygon, stop it with Screech!"

The dragon of the desert let loose a powerful ear-splitting screech that disoriented the snake, making it back off.

Meowth witnessed the whole thing and was angered. He pumped a paw in the air.

"Two against one ain't fair unless we're in the better end of the stick!"

James pulls out a Pokéball of his own, "Then lets even out the odds. Carnivine, use Bullet Seed!"

The Bug Catcher Pokémon appeared out of the small sphere, but instead of going after the opposing side, it went after its own trainer.

 **Bite!**

The grown man groaned when his Pokémon engulf his head with its gigantic jaw, "This is really not the time! Now, use Bullet Seed on the annoying flying people!"

He manages to pry it off of him and threw it up to the opposing side who are in the sky. Carnivine opened his jaw wide and sent a barrage of glowing yellow seeds at the Aether Employees. In response, the flight enabled Pokémon tried to evade them all, but were occasionally were hit. Mandibuzz, being part flying, was all not that affected, but it still hurt enough to interrupt with her flying especially since one seed got a good hit on her wing

The man who is steering the Flygon grunted when his Pokémon got hit. He turned to his comrades who are riding the Mandibuzz.

"It's no use!" He told them. "We must go down or else we will all get hurt!"

His comrade heard him and they all went down, where all four got off of their Pokémon.

Jessie growled at them, "You dare mess with us? Well you got another thing coming. Yamega, show these dolts what we're made of by showing them your Sonic Boom!"

A large dragonfly appeared with its wing flapping rapidly, giving it the movements of a helicopter. Its wings glowed white and flapped them all at once at the opposing side, sending a shockwave at the Aether Employees.

The other male, who is not the owner of the Flygon, pulls out a Pokéball and threw it as well.

"Golem, block that attack with Protect!"

The Megaton Pokémon appeared, but it is not the usual kind that Team Rocket are used to. The Rock-Electric type stood right in front as it summons up a green barrier that stopped the incoming shockwave.

"That's one freaky-looking Golem." Meowth commented.

"Indeed, it must be an Alolan Golem." James points out the obvious.

The remaining Aether Employee, another female, pulls out her own Pokéball.

"Araquanid, please help us out!"

James took a step back when the fourth Pokémon appeared in the other side.

"Oh no. This isn't good."

Jessie snorted, "It wouldn't be if you bothered capturing another Pokémon."

"Hey! It's not like we could do anything while we were trapped back at the cave!" James retorted.

"Would you yahoos quit it with the arguing and fight!" Meowth yelled at them, making them focus in the battle.

James listened, but Jessie was angered by the insult.

She grabbed Meowth by the back of his neck, "So why don't you go there and fight!" She then threw him into the battle field.

Meowth growled before extending his claws. "I should be letting my fury out on you," He threatened. "But I'll forgive you if we can beat these bozos, so we can take their Pokémon and ship them all off to the boss."

"I agree." James said. "An Alolan variant will definitely get us in the Boss' good side."

The Aether Employee narrowed their glare when they heard about them stealing their Pokémon.

Jessie smirks before pulling out a unique looking Pokéball, "Then lets guarantee our victory, shall we? Mimikyu! Give them a taste of your Shadow Ball."

The Pikachu imposter appeared out of the Luxury Ball. Although, instead of initiating said attack, it just started stood there doing nothing.

"Hey! What gives?" The ragdoll Pokémon's trainer said.

"Did you forget?" James rhetorically said, "Mimikyu won't fight anyone who is not a Pikachu."

The magenta haired woman growled, "Meowth! Do something about it!"

"What!? There's no way I'm taking to that thing. That thing really scare me the heck out of me so bad that it makes us look like the good guys!"

That lead the two into an argument. James tried to stop them, but the two yelled at him which prompted him to join in the bickering as well. Their Pokémon look at their respective owners before looking at each other and sweat-dropped.

Rachel turned to her co-workers, "We should take the initiative while they're distracted."

"Agreed!" All three said.

Michael pointed his index finger at Carnivine, "Flygon, use Flamethrower!"

"Araquanid!" Susan called as she points at Yanmega, "Hit it with Ice Beam!"

"Use Heavy Slam on Seviper, Golem!"

The Megaton Pokémon ran up to the poisonous Pokémon before jumping to the air before being engulfed in a silver grey.

James, hearing the commands, turned back to the battlefield and notices three of the four opposing Pokémon were now launching their attacks. The lavender haired man screamed, which made his comrades stop arguing.

"What's with all the yelling?" Jessie asked with annoyance laced in her voice. To her own horror, the answer to her rhetorical question was seeing her precious Seviper being crushed by the Megaton Pokémon. "Seviper!"

Meowth was also horrified and he nearly got a heart attack when he saw two of his partners-in-crime get burnt alive and frozen alive respectively.

"Carnivine! No!"

"This is definitely not good for us." Jessie muttered as she took a couple of steps back before bumping to something.

"Wobuffet!"

A cross-popping vein appeared on Jessie's temple.

"Why don't you go make yourself useful!" The female Rocket yelled as she threw it into the battlefield.

"I'll take care of this," Rachel told her own comrades. "Mandibuzz use Brave Bird!"

"Send it back with Mirror Coat!" Jessie retaliated.

"Wrong!" Both James and Meowth yelled at the same time.

"You were suppose to tell it to use Counter!" Said James.

"Not Mirror Coat, you dolt!"

"Oh," Jessie realized her mistake. "Well...you guys should have said something sooner!"

Blaming her comrades definitely did not change a thing because it was already too late for the Patient Pokémon did not have enough to call off the move before being rammed by a blazing Mandibuzz. The Psychic-type Pokémon was done.

Meowth felt his days of roaming free will be coming to an end soon. Wanting to get out of the situation as soon as possible, he gulped down his fears and walks up to Jessie's Mimikyu.

"Hey Mimikyu!" Meowth stopped when he saw it give him that piercing look, "Woah! Look, I don't want any trouble. I'm just going to give you a heads up."

"Kyu?"

The talking Pokémon pointed a paw at the Aether Employees. "See the people in white? Well I don't know what they will do to us, but right now they're preventing us from reaching Pikachu."

Once Meowth said the magic word, Mimikyu turn his piercing glare at the opposing side. A claw appeared from under the Pokémon's disguise as it glows purple.

Jessie smiled in glee when her Pokémon landed a hit on Araquanid. It did not stop there, while the giant spider Pokémon winced in pain, the mimic Pokémon looks at Flygon before jumping at it as a thick whit smoke appeared covering the two Pokémon. The Mystic Pokémon was hit repeatedly by Mimikyu's stick before being thrown out of the smoke.

"Flygon! Are you okay!?" Michael yelled in worry for that was a super-effective move. His Pokémon nodded before trying to go back to the air, but his trainer pulled out its Pokémon, which is where it was returned, "Take a good rest."

"Can you still go on?" Susan asked her Pokémon, who nodded.

Mimikyu then sets its eyes on Mandibuzz, but the vulture Pokémon's trainer stopped in its tracks before it could.

"Use Poison!" Rachel commanded.

The Bone Vulture Pokémon spat out a glop of purple gunk at the mimic Pokémon. The poisonous substance from the attack seeped through the rag and making its way inside the mimic Pokémon's body. Mimikyu's movement soon became sluggish.

"Mimikyu!" The TRio yelled as their ray of hope is becoming dim.

Susan then step up, "Mimikyu's ability is Disguise. A useful ability, don't you agree? Well I'll be taking care of that. Araquanid, destroy its defense with Bubble Beam!"

The Water Bubble Pokémon sent a barrage of bubbles that made the mimic Pokémon's disguise all soggy. The head of the disguise titled from side to side before drooping down.

"Uh oh. Looks like we're toast." James said, admitting defeat.

"Not unless I do something about it!" Meowth screamed as he ran into the battle with his claws extended.

"Golem, Thunder Punch!" Kenta told his Pokémon.

The Megaton Pokémon concentrated some of the electricity in his body to its right hand. It then punches Meowth in the gut with so much force that it sent the talking Pokémon back at Mimikyu. The mimic Pokémon was having trouble standing up straight with the poison inside its system, so it immediately passed out when Meowth was thrown at it.

Jessie and James grimaced when they saw all of their Pokémon, including Meowth has fainted. The Rocket members sheepishly smiled at the Aether Employees as they returned their Pokémon back into their Pokéball.

"Well that was fun and all, but we really need to go now." James tried to excuse himself as he picks up Mewoth.

"Yeah, lets battle some other time, probably NEVER!"

They both immediately start to run for their life, but their feet got frozen in place by Araquanid's Ice Beam. The two shivered and it was not just because of the ice, no they also fear for what will happen next.

"You're not going anywhere, you scum." Susan told them with venom in her voice.

"The battle is over, so no trash talk please." James pleaded.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" Jessie yelled when Michael took her Pokéballs. "Those are mine!"

"No!" James screamed when Kenta started frisking him, "Please! Don't take my precious Carnivine!"

Kenta found James' Pokeballs, but before he could take them he was suddenly slapped by a giant paw.

Because their feet were stuck to a block of ice, Jessie and James turned and saw their savior.

"Bewear! I never I'd be happy to saw that big lump again."

"Hurray! We're saved!" James cheered.

Bewear glared at the people and Pokémon who are responsible for assaulting the people who it considers its friends. In under a minute, it manages to take down Araquanid, Golem, and Mandibuzz with a barrage of punches and kicks.

Rachel step back when she saw their Pokémon fall down.

"What just happened?" She said as sweat drip down her temple.

She and her comrades pull out their next Pokémon, but Bewear picked up Jessie, James, and Meowth before they could send out their Pokémon from their Pokeballs. At an incredibly fast speed, it immediately started to leave the scene.

"No!" Kenta yelled.

"Hooo! Just in the nick of time!" James exclaimed in happiness. Jessie also celebrated

The Rocket members cheered too soon because from out of no where, a fireball appeared and it rammed against the Strong Arm Pokémon. Bewear was knocked out of its feet as it lost its grip on Jessie and James.

Bewear got up and glared at its opponent as it took a defensive stance. Standing before the bear Pokémon was a creature that has chimera written all over it.

Gladion's Braviary brought his trainer down along with Hobbs.

The blonde matches Bewear's glare with his own sharp scowl. He calmly enters the battlefield as he stood alongside with his partner. He really is not in the mood right now, especially what happened last night.

"I don't know why you're helping these scum, but because of my duty, I'll give you a moment to reconsider what you are doing. Get in my way and I promise you that you won't be getting out of this without getting hurt."

Bewear took that as a challenge as it came after Type:Null with a Brick Break prepared.

Gladion scoffs, "Tch, fine. Null, take it down with Double Edge."

Type:Null charges at its opponent with all the weight and speed it has. The two Pokémon met in the middle as they deliver their attacks at one another. To Team Rocket's horror, Bewear was thrown back and it fainted after crashing through a bunch of trees.

Now seeing that the battle is finally over, Gladion turned to the Aether Employees.

"You four, take these low-lives back to base before that Bewear wakes up." He ordered them as he returned his partner. "Good work, Null."

The employees in white uniforms saluted, "Yes, sir!"

Jessie and James struggled, but they were knocked out when the Aether employees hit them on the back of their heads. The employees bind the two in flex cuffs before lugging them away.

Hobbs smiled since they finished their mission so soon. This means they do not have to spy on Lillie and her date .

"Well then, should we be heading home now, young master?" Hobbs said. "I'm sure your mother will be absolutely happy to know that those foul miscreants are no longer roaming free."

"Home?" Gladion repeated, "Why should I go home when my mission is not done yet." It was more of a statement than a question.

Hobbs gulped, not really wanting to argue with his young master. He has seen Gladion grew up since he was just a baby and the old butler sees him as his own grandson.

"The mission was to apprehend two Team Rocket members and we managed to do just that. I don't see what you mea-"

"My mission is to keep my sister safe." Gladion interrupted him with a glare.

"Miss Lillie is safe. She has Ash with her."

Gladion growled when he heard the name of his sister's date.

"Ketchum is a weakling. How is my sister safe if she is with a weakling?"

"Now that's just prejudice." Hobbs argued, "I had a battle with Mr. Ketchum just the other day and he really gave me a run for my money."

"Don't act like you didn't witnessed how those Rocket scums battled!" Gladion yelled. "That was a one-sided battle! It was so easy, I bet a Pokémon that just hatched can beat them."

Hobbs back down a little, knowing his young master is right. He tried to think up a compelling argument, but Gladion already left the scene on his Braviary.

The old butler sighed, "I'm sorry Lady Lusamine, but I failed you."

* * *

 **Yeah, I gave Gladion a Braviary. I know that he's a dark type trainer in the anime, but Braviary somehow fits with his personality because of the Pokémon's dex entry in Moon.**

 **Team Rocket were a little OOCish, but that is because they never got the training when they promoted by Giovanni. I have to say, TRio may be annoying, but they are sure fun to write.**

 **I hope you enjoy the battle, not that it was considered a battle since Team Rocket are easy pickings if it weren't for Jessie's Mimikyu, but it doesn't even listen to her most of the time.**

 **At least I hope you guys enjoy Type:Null in action even though it was a short battle against Bewear.**


	11. The Date: Middle Part 2

**Sorry it took so long. I blame the summer heat and for not having an AC in the house.**

 **Now, since I'm making this a series, I would like some ideas from the readers. To be honest, I'm don't like much of the episodes of Pokemon Sun and Moon, only a small list of it(as of right now) and I'm planning to replace some of them to fill in the gaps, so I would like to hear other people's ideas and(of course) they will be credited. (To be sure there won't be any spoilers, please PM me.)**

 **I mentioned that I was going to have Ash capture a Pokémon while in his date with Lillie, but there were change in my plans. Besides, capturing non-canon Pokémon seem like events that should be saved for "Pokémon Golden Sun and Silver Moon" (The story that will take place after this one)**

 **One last note: I was going to write more on this, but I decided you guys waited long enough (again).**

 **Now, enjoy the chapter**

* * *

After Lillie's brother and the Aether employees took care of the Team Rocket trio, Ash and Lillie finally made it to their destination. Well...not quite.

"This is as far as we can go on a car, Ash." Lillie told her date. "We have to go there by foot."

"I'm fine with that." Ash said as he opens his car door side. He got out holding the picnic basket with one hand.

Lillie went up to her chauffeur after she got out, "I'll call you when we're done."

The chauffeur nodded, "Very well, young mistress. Have a nice time with your boyfriend."

The bookworm madly blushes and she soon did not have the mental capacity to rebuff his statement. She may be on a date with Ash, but they have yet to make it official. Her chauffeur soon left the two alone in the middle of the woods.

Ash notice how stiff Lillie has gotten, so he tap on her shoulder which jolted her back to reality.

"Ah!" Lillie screamed before realizing what is going on, "Oh! Sorry about that Ash."

"It's alright. No harm done." He told her with a smile. "So, do you remember to your brother's spot?"

"Oh yes," She replied with a smile. "It should take us about thirty minutes to get there."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Lets get going!"

Lillie smiled at his enthusiasm. She wondered if this is how Ash acts around her other friends. Not that she should know, she has been avoiding before all of this happened. She giggled at how all of this occurred.

First they met in the most unlikely circumstance, which is after Ash gets run over by three Tauros. Then they ended up having their first kiss on the lips due to one Tauros. After that, she started to avoid him while he tries to apologies for it, thinking it is his own fault.

Then the events that occurred when Ash came to her estate.

And now, here they are. On a date.

Thinking back on those magazines she read last night, Lillie took the initiatives; while balancing the Egg inside its incubator, Lillie grabs Ash's free hand. It was now the raven haired teen's turn to blush. He may have had physical contact with other females, like high fiving with Dawn, before in the past, but it was never personal as this.

"Right! Lets go!" Lillie yelled out as she started to drag her date.

"Wahhh!"

Ash had a difficulty holding on to their picnic basket due to the sudden pull. Luckily for him, Lillie suddenly came to a stop.

"Lillie? Something wrong?"

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I..." Lillie shivered.

The raven teen turned his focus to their surrounding. Just one good look and carefully hear their surroundings gave Ash the answer to Lillie's nervousness. It was quite obvious.

"Don't worry, Lillie." He assures her as he brought her close to him by pulling her hand. "I won't let any wild Pokémon get on our way. Just stay close to me and you'll be okay."

He really should chose his words carefully because she followed his words to heart by hooking her right arm around his left while also keeping a hold of the egg incubator. Now both of his arms were occupied and a wild Pokémon can appear from out a bush in any second while he has no Pokéball on hand. It would appear that she is mildly experiencing a panic attack as she hang onto Ash as if her life depends on it.

Because she is attached to him, he can easily feel her rapid heartbeat. She needs to calm down.

"Let's get going." Ash proposed.

Lillie said that their brother's spot is void of Pokémon, so the sooner they get there, the sooner Lillie will calm down. He just hope no Pokémon are around there at this time. According to Lillie, it has been years since she was there and a lot can change in a long period of time.

The long haired blonde nodded and softly said, "Okay."

"Sla-ah!"

"Gyah!"

Unfortunately for the two students of the Pokémon School, as if fate has a cruel sense of humor, the first wild Pokémon to come out of hiding from the bushes was a familiar Poison-Fire type. There is only one Pokémon, along with its possible evolution, to have that type combination and Ash and Lillie are very familiar with this threatening Pokémon.

Surprised, Lillie jumps back and also pulling Ash back with her. The pull did not bother Ash though because he is currently busy glaring at the little salamander. After seeing what this Pokémon tried to do to Lillie and the egg, a growing resentment was slowly growing inside of him. Due to his kind nature, the hate was almost forgotten, but seeing this one in front of them reignited the flame.

"Is this the same Salandit from before?" Ash asked out loud as he places the picnic basket down.

He really hope this is not the same one because if it is, this bully of a Pokémon is lucky that Ash did not bring one of his strongest Pokémon. His Buizel and Glalie may be strong, but even they can not stand a chance against Pikachu or his Infernape.

Lillie was too scared to answer his question as the Salandit pounced at them.

Fearing the little Pokémon will hurt her egg, Lillie let go of Ash and took refuge behind him. She wraps her arms around the incubator for extra protection. Meanwhile, Ash quickly pulls out and enlarged a Pokéball before throwing it. Because he had little time to react quickly enough, the Pokéball he pulled out was random.

"I choose you!"

Appearing from the small sphere was Ash's only Ice-type. The first thing Glalie saw was a Pokémon that the Ice-type has never seen before; the only thing the Ice-type knows about it that it is on the attack, reacting quickly it opens up his mouth and blows out an icy and windy attack.

Being part Fire-type, the little black salamander was not hurt much by the Icy Wind, but it was still blown back due to its small stature. The strong wind blew the wild Salandit to a tree, but that did not knock it out; it quickly got back to all fours and spat out an Ember attack.

Ash saw the little fireball coming, "Glalie! Use- huh?"

Before the trainer could finish the command, he noticed his Pokémon yell out as a blue light outlined his Pokémon.

"Glalie!" His Pokémon screams out.

Soon dark rain clouds formed right above the Face Pokémon and the Toxic Lizard Pokémon. The falling water rain douse out the weak fire attack easily in seconds before it could even reached its target.

Lillie, who was cowering behind Ash for a moment, took notice of the rain cloud when she heard the falling rain. Due to her vast knowledge of Pokémon, she is familiar with this move and now has a calmed down for she is certain her Ash's Pokémon will win against this wild Pokémon.

"Did Glalie use a new move?" Ash questioned, never have seen his Glalie do a move like that.

"It is." Lillie answered. "It's Rain Dance."

"Rain Dance?" Ash repeated. His mind then clicked when he remembered the last part of his conversation with Prof. Oak. _"This is what he means by a surprise!"_

Overcoming over his shock, Ash put on a smirk, "So you learned a new move. That's awesome!"

"Gla!"

The Face Pokémon was happy to praised, but the wild Salandit, on the other hand, was shivering. Not just by fear, but also due to Glalie's natural ability to freeze the surrounding moisture and also already being soaking wet from the falling rain. Even with the fire typing, the little salamander can not stand how cold it is now. Seeing that its opponent is busy being happy from the praise, it took the chance and quickly hightailed it out there. It knows when it lost a battle.

Ash saw it flee. He let it go. He won the battle, so there is no need for further actions.

Lillie sigh in relief once she saw the Salandit disappear from sight. She then saw Ash going up to his Pokémon, probably to praise it some more. She distance herself from the two so she would not interrupt them and also lessen the possibility of coming into contact with the Ice-type Pokémon. She did smile at it to show her appreciation.

"I can't believe you learned a new move while I was gone from home." Ash said with a smile. "You must have really gotten strong, haven't you?"

Glalie's answer to the rhetorical question was an Ice Beam that it happily let out at its trainer. Ash got frozen alive in a human-size block of ice.

"Ash!"

* * *

Because the Rain Dance disappeared soon after the battle was done and because it is hot as usual in Melemele Island, the ice melted quickly enough for Ash to break his way out. He returned his Pokémon back into its Pokéball before he and Lillie proceeded to go to their destination. The blonde is now feeling calmer than before since she witnessed how strong Ash's Glalie despite only witnessing a small portion of a short battle. Ash's strong claim of how tough his two Pokémon are also assured Lillie.

"So why did your Glalie do that? That was an awful thing to do to you." Lillie with concern in her voice. Her date may look fine, but the last thing she wants is to see him get sick.

Ash chuckled, "Don't worry. Glalie does that a lot and I'm kind of used to it."

That did not peter her worries away.

"Are you sure? You could get sick."

Her date just laughed at the possibility. He gives her a smile as he said,

"Lillie, Glalie frozed me a lot in the past and I've been through Sinnoh, so I'm sort of used to the cold." He assures her as his smile brightens as he recalled the memories of his previous journey.

His journey on the fourth region he has visited was great, but it could have gone better without the cold weather. That is one of the reason why he is grateful Mimey won those free plane tickets to here, the region of Alola.

"Sinnoh?"

Contrary to the popular belief around the Pokémon school, Lillie may be one of the smartest among the students, but all she knows are currently limited to Alola alone; she has yet to learn about other regions and makes them stand out. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kalos, the region that was mentioned in class the other day, are completely alien to the Alolan native.

"The region that I traveled to before I came here." He explained. His smile slowly disappeared, "Didn't Mallow or the others told you that?"

The trainer from Kanto has been telling his classmates, excluding Lillie because of obvious reasons, stories of his journey of being a Pokémon trainer. The blonde would always excuse herself at those time because she was still embarrassed at the time. He was certain at least one of the others would retell the stories to her, but it seems the bookworm excuse herself from those as well.

Lillie then remembered the times when the others offered to her stories regarding Ash's adventures.

She lowered her head down as she frowned, "N-No, I didn't."

"Would you like to hear what I saw in Sinnoh?"

Lillie smiled at the kind proposition. She looks at him with a smiling blushed face

"Yes. I would like that."

* * *

 **Not much of a chapter, but I did say that I was going to write before it felt that you guys waited long enough.**

 **I decided to give Ash's Glalie the move Rain Dance as a way to fight back Fire-types.**

 **For those who will say that I was lazy to have Ash's Pokémon learn new moves off-screen without Ash training them, let me explain**

 **Glalie, feeling left out from competing in the Sinnoh League, wanted to get stronger by training more while still at Prof. Oak's. It thought it could get stronger if it knows other moves which is how it learned the move Rain Dance.  
\- Rain Dance is a good move because in that weather condition, Fire type attacks are weakened which will greatly benefits Glalie.  
**

 **BTW: Screw Pokémon only able to know four moves!**

 **See you all next time. Please review (THEY MOTIVATE ME!)**


	12. The Date: Middle Part 3

**Since summer is almost done, I thought I should update another chapter before summer is over.**

 **NOTE: You won't be seeing Ash and Lillie's date in this chapter, but this chapter will still be interesting to read.**

 **Enjoy~**

* * *

Lusamine Aether, as usual, was doing paper work and a lot of it. Running a huge company is not easy, especially when the establishment is a giant, high-tech, artificial island. The Aether president finds her day to be the usual; doing boring paperwork, alone in her own office, and getting occasional calls regarding to the Aether Foundation.

What you will find on top of her desk are the usual: fancy-looking pens, tall stacks of paperwork, a state of the art computer that is connected to a printer, and a photo is that framed.

The mother of two stopped writing for a moment to gaze at the framed photo. Lusamine place her pen down before grabbing the picture frame. She has other photos that are mounted on her office walls, but the one she is holding right now has more significant meaning. The picture frame in her hands house a photo of the last time the Aether family took a family picture together.

In the photo, her children were at least five years younger than their current age, standing next to each other. Gladion in suit, standing tall with his shoulders broad. Lillie in a sundress and her signature hat, smiling happily at the camera. Lusamine, herself, standing next to a man who shares the same blonde hair and emerald green eyes. Like the son, the man has his blonde hair kept short.

"Oh, Mohn." She sighs in bittersweet sadness. "If you were here, what would have you said when you found that our daughter is showing interests in boys?"

She gave a light giggle as she tried to put on a smile, "You probably would have been supportive right from the start. Wouldn't you?"

Her smile then disappeared, "You...you...you were suppose to have outlived me." She choked out as tears started fell down from her face.

Memories then started to flow inside her mind, starting on the day Gladion was born.

 _Flashback_

 _"Our son. My precious little Gladion. He looks so handsome." Lusamine is crying tears of joy as she holds her first child for the first time._

 _After nine months of pregnancy, she is finally able to hold her baby._

 _She did not care that she is covered in sweat. She did not care that her hair is messy. All she cared about is her son right now._

 _The now mother heard a familiar chuckle next to her._

 _"He is indeed handsome. I betcha he gets his look from his beautiful mommy."_

 _Lusamine chuckled, "Don't be ridiculous, Mohn. He gets it from you, his daddy."_

 _Mohn gave a hearty laugh as he stared at his son. "Yeah, I guess you're right."_

 _The mother's smile widen when she saw her son's eyes open. The father also smirked at his son's eyes._

 _"Oh look! He has your eyes!"_

 _"No, no. He has your eyes and I know that for a fact."_

 _The two ended up arguing on whose eyes that their son has inherited from._

 _"I don't think so, Mohn. I know when I'm looking at your gentle and calm eyes."_

 _"And I know when I'm looking at your beautiful eyes. Just admit it, Lucy."_

 _Lusamine retorts, but there is a noticeable blush on her cheeks. She always loved it when her lover flirts with her. However, with their first child right in front of them._

 _"Mohn! Not in front of Gladion!"_

 _3 Years Later_

 _"Lucy, please. Just let him watch."_

 _"But he's just three years old. He shouldn't be watching that!" Lusamine protested against her husband._

 _Mohn chuckled, "What's wrong with watching a Pokémon battle?" He rhetorically asked. He looked at his son who has his eyes glued to the television which is showing a Pokémon battle._

 _The father put on a proud face as his son started to mimic the trainers in the battle._

 _"If I remembered correctly, you told me that you love Pokémon since you were baby yourself."_

 _"Yes," Lusamine agreed to that part, "but I never wanted any Pokémon to get hurt. Which is why I became a Pokémon coordinator when I first got my Pokémon."_

 _"Even if you tried to convince him to stray away from Pokémon battling, there's no way he'll stop completely." Mohn put on a sly smirk, "After all, he gets his stubbornness from you._ _"_

 _Lusamine jerked at the detail. Her husband's words are true. She may be a polite woman almost all the time, but to the people close to her, she is known to have a stubborn side._

 _One time, her husband was so busy working at the Aether Foundation that she started to miss him dearly. One day, she told him that she wanted him to take her out. He ended up saying no, but promised her to take her out on a later date. before resuming back to his work. That very same day, for the first time since he has known her, Mohn saw the stubborn said of Lusamine Elsa Aether and regretted saying no to his wife._

 _Although, he did not regret that night out he had with his wife. He has been so busy for months that he forgot how much he loved the woman that he married. The following day, he took an extensive time off work so he could make up to Lusamine._

 _Speaking of the mother, she now has a saddened look. She questioned if she raised her son right. Being a pacifist, she did not want her son thinking that making Pokémon hurt each other is a good thing. Lusamine knows for a fact that not all trainers are like that, but she does not want her son to end up like those kind of trainers. The kind who just see Pokémon as tools._

 _Mohn kept his smile on. "Tell you what, I'll bring Gladion to work." His wife did not respond. "Showing him that Pokémon are like family should put him in the right track."_

 _She nodded at the idea, "Yes. I do believe that is a good idea."_

 _1 Year Later_

 _"Gladion?"_

 _Hearing his name, the now four year old boy turned his attention from the Eevee that he was playing to his mother, who is sitting in a chair in the patio. The mother and son were currently alone, with the exception of the family butler and maid, at their mansion in the Aether Foundation._

 _Being rich really has their perks, especially when you have enough to bring home to your job. Not wanting to miss precious time with his family, Mohn decided to have a mansion built into the Aether Foundation. The estate in Hau'oli City that he and his family used to live in now became a vacation home. The Aether Mansion is basically an exact duplicate of their estate, it even has its own large garden where some Pokémon happily live at._

 _"Go play with the other Pokémon, Eevee." Gladion told his fury friend who barked happily before going off to play with the other Pokémon in the garden. The young boy then went up to his mother. "Yes, mother?"_

 _Lusamine giggled. Sometimes she wished her son just call her "mommy," but she really loves seeing her son be a gentleman._

 _"Gladion, what do you think of having a sister?"_

 _Her son got a confused look, "A sister, what is that?"_

 _It is quite understandable that he questioned what a sister is being so young and all. Still wondering the world around him._

 _"Well...do you know what a family is?"_

 _"Yes. You, father, and me; we're a family."_

 _"Sister means a female sibling which means someone who shares the same father and mother as you." She explained with a smile._

 _Gladion got a look of understanding. He then slightly lower his head down, feeling a little apprehensive because he just learned that he will be sharing his parents with a complete stranger._

 _"Oh. So...uh...where is my sister now?"_

 _Lusamine's smile brightens, "First, hold out your hand."_

 _Gladion blink in confusion, but held out his hand anyway. His mother took his hand and guided it to her swollen belly. The young boy questioned why his mother's tummy got a little big. His father told him that it is a surprise and will soon find out._

 _When his hand made contact with his mother's stomach, he was surprised to have felt a kick. He jerked his hand back._

 _"Wh-what is that!?"_

 _Lusamine just kept her smile and took her son's hand and places it back on her stomach. This time, she kept it firmly on._

 _"_ That _is your sister._ "

 _"My...my sister?" Gladion has a look of absolute confusion. 'Why is a person inside his mother? How is this possible?' were the questions that running through his head. "Why is inside of you? Did you eat her."_

 _Lusamine giggled. Her son is too young to learn about that, so she explained it in another way. Her son may be smart enough to have manners, but he is still oblivious to most things in life._

 _"No, I did not eat her. I let her inside of me because she is scared."_

 _In truth, Lusamine is the one who is scared._

 _Gladion stopped the questions in his head._

 _"Scared?"_

 _"Yes," His mother said soflty, "She scared because she does not know what is outside."_

 _"But...you and I are here?" Gladion argued. "And we're both fine._ _"_

 _Lusamine thought up of an explanation, "Remember when you were afraid of the dark?" She giggled a little after she asked her question._

 _Gladion blushed as he straightened up as a way to show that he is tough._

 _"I-I I wasn't scared!"_

 _Then Lusamine gave him that look, the look that reminds him to never lie to his own mother._

 _He shrank down a little, "M-Maybe a little."_

 _"Do you know why you were afraid of the dark?"_

 _"Because...it was scary?" He questioned for he uncertain of his own answer._

 _"No." She told him, "You were scared because you did not know what was there. Just like your sister, she is scared because she does not know what is out here."_

 _Then it all clicked in his head. He slowly nodded his head, understanding why his sister is scared. He rest his hand on his mother's stomach, feeling his sister's kicks. Lusamine felt him relax and let go his hand. Gladion did not let go._

 _Lusamine smiled, seeing her son all ready being a big brother._

 _"Gladion."_

 _"Yes, mother?"_

 _"Since you'll be having a little sister, do you know what that makes you?"_ _"Uhhh...I-I don't know." He shakes his head._

 _Lusamine's smile brighten a little, "You'll be a big brother, Gladion! And do you know the responsibilities of a big brother?"_

 _He shakes his head with a wanting look._

 _"As a big brother, it is your duty to be there for your sister. Protect and help your sister no matter what."_

 _Gladion gasp a little. This is going too fast for him. In just in one day, he was given the duties of being a protector. He questioned what he can do, wondering if he is even strong enough to protect someone. What if he fail?_

 _"You will be strong for your sister, won't you?"_

 _Hearing his mother's words was enough pull him from his confusion. Seeing his mother's smile suddenly made him feel that he has to this, be a big brother and protect his younger sibling, just like his mother has said._

 _Instead of waiting for him to answer, Lusamine grabbed her son's hand from her stomach._

 _"Since your sister can't do it, I'll stand in for her." She entwines her pinky with his. "Promise that you'll be there for your sister?"_

 _He is just four years old. He does not know how to fight nor does he know how to brawl in a Pokémon battle, he just know the basics of it. Even so,_

 _"I'll do my best, sister. I promise to both you and mother."_

 _Lusamine just smiled proudly at her son._

 _Later that day. Nighttime_

 _"So? What did Gladion think of having a sister?"_

 _"Well...he was relucatant at first." Lusamine explains as she went over the talk she had earlier with her son. "But in the end, he promised that he'll there for his sister."_

 _She then coughs which made her husband worry. His worries skyrocketed as witness his wife coughed uncontrollably. He ran up to her and hold her in case she fell._

 _"Are you okay?"_

 _Lusamine coughs a little more before turning away from Mohn._

 _"Please, don't worry about me." Her busband wanted to argue on that subject, but she stopped him before he could. "Please...for me."_

 _Mohn's words ended up being silenced. He slowly took a deep breathe. If that is what his wife wants, so be it._

 _"Well...what do you want to talk about." Mohn is nervous, so nervous that he did not properly bring up another subject._

 _His wife's smile returns, "I think it's time with think about naming our daughter."_

 _"Okay." Mohn agreed with an uneasy smile. "Got any names for our little girl?"_

 _"I already name our son, I think it's your turn."_

 _Mohn jerked at the revelation. Taking another deep breathe before thinking up any good names for his daughter. This name has to be special, for all of them. He looks at his wife for inspiration._

 _"How about...Lillie?"_

 _Lusamine blinked at the suggestion, "Lillie? Like the flower?"_

 _"Not exactly. Lillie, short for Lilligant." He told her with a smile._

 _Lusamine then giggled when she realized, "You mean the Pokémon that reminds you of me?"_

 _Mohn chuckled as he nodded._

 _"Yes. And because it takes a lot of care to raise a Lilligant, our little girl will be our delicate flower."_

 _Lusamine could not argue on that. She grabs Mohn's hand. She can feel him trembling._

 _"Please be strong for her. That's is all I'm asking."_

 _"Luc-"_

 _Flashback Interruption_

"Lady Lusamine!? Are you all right in there!?"

The president of the Aether Foundation was pulled from her memories. She now hears the loud knockings on her office door. She carefully places back the phot before fixing and straightening herself up to look presentable.

"You may come in!" She yelled, but not too loud.

Coming inside her was Wicke Zyra, the assistant branch chief of the Aether Paradise and a good friend of the family. She is around the same age as the president, wears glasses, and dark purple colored hair. Her clothing has the color scheme of the Aether Foundation.

"Lady Lusamine, are you okay?" Wicke asked in worry. "When you're weren't responding after a minute, I got so worried."

"I'll be fine, Wicke." She assures her. "Now, what is that you want?" Lusamine said with a lot of authority.

Wicke straighten up when she heard that tone of voice. Her boss can be scary when she is in business mode. The assistant branch chief nervously opens the manila folder in her hands which she almost dropped.

"W-Well from what I gathered from yesterday's recently rescued Pokémon, I find out that something strange is happening in Melemele Island."

Lusamine's eyes widen slightly. "Strange? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that Pokémon are being assaulted in the wilderness."

"I don't see how you find that to be strange, Wicke." Lusamine commented. "It's the wilderness, so of course you would find injured Pokémon due to the wild Pokémon fighting for food and territory."

"True, but it's how they were injured is what strange."

"Hmmm?"

"According to the blood tests from the sixty-two rescued, all have been found to have poisoned." Her boss gasped at the findings. "We were lucky to have rescued all of them in time or else Melemele Island would have been plagued with dead bodies." Wicke shivered at the thought.

Lusamine was relieved at that, "Thank goodness. So, what else did you find?"

"Well all Pokémon were poisoned with the same kind of toxin. I already ruled out that the toxin were made by Zubats or its evolutions. The same goes for Spinarak or Ariados."

"You're right, Wicke. That is indeed strange." Her assistant has just ruled out all the land Pokémon that are Poison-types. The only other Poison-type Pokémon to be found in Melemele Island were Tentacools and Tentacruels, but not many will go out of the water for so long. "What is your theory on this?"

Wicke adjusted her glasses, "With deductive reasoning, I believe that this is the work of a Poison-type Pokémon that has been released into Melemele Island by a Pokémon trainer that used to own it."

* * *

 **Everything that you read are my interpretation of Lillie's family and the Aether Foundation.**

 **See you all next time. Please leave a review.**


	13. The Date: Middle part 4

**Sorry, but it took sometime because I revised this chapter.**

 **I'm back at school. Yeah, this chapter is a little rushed because of my busy schedule and also because I want to finish this chapter and story ASAP so I can finally start working on Pokémon: Golden Sun and Silver Moon before I head off to college.**

* * *

Ash and Lillie were still to their destination. They could have been there a lot sooner, but they were deliberately walking at a slow pace due to Ash's storytelling of his journey as a Pokémon trainer and also because of Lillie's fits of giggles at the humorous parts.

"Hehehe~ You mean, she got ~hehehe~ the nickname Dee Dee because ~hehehe~ her hair!?" Was all Lillie could say through her laughter.

Ash could only nod at her question and chuckle alongside her. He feels a little guilty about telling this embarrassing story about his friend Dawn, but hearing Lillie giggle made it all worth it, this just shows that their date is doing good so far at this point. He is just glad that they have yet to be interrupted by another wild Pokémon or else his time with Lillie will ruined. He really wanted to make up his mistake and he is making a lot of progress, so getting interrupted by a wild Pokémon will be bad. Well... for the possible wild Pokémon at least.

"Hey, Ash?" Lillie started after catching her breathe from the laughter. Now that Ash was done talking about his last journey, Lillie felt it was the right time to ask question.

"Yes?"

"I'm curious, how many badges do you have now?"

Being from Alola, she has never heard about Gym battles. From what she can gather, Gym badges are like Z-Crystals that Kahunas give to trial-goers as symbols of their accomplishments. Badges may not be special as Z-Crystals, considering the obvious difference between them, but they do grant trainers the privilege to enter events known as leagues. Lillie has not have seen leagues before nor has she seen one, but she is certain these events are big and spectacular to see if other regions have and host them each year. Not that she would know considering she is not a big fan of Pokémon battles.

If Z-Crystals are anything like Gym Badges, they must be hard to battle for. Lillie is very certain of it because Ash claimed that it was tough to get every badges he has rightfully earned. Ash even added that all of his Gym battles were all difficult in their own rights.

Ash held up a hand as he counted by memory. Lets see, he has the eight Kanto badges, the four Orange archipelago badges, the eight Johto badges, the eight Hoenn, and the eight Sinnoh Badges. Lets not forget,

"Including the Frontier symbol, I have...hmmm... 43."

Lillie took a moment to process the number in her mind before yelling, "43!?"

With her current knowledge, Lillie knows that there is a Z-Crystal for each type, so including the new type that they learned about, which is Fairy-type, there has to be at least eighteen different Z-Crystals plus a small some that are reported to only be used by certain Pokémon. If Ash had started out by collecting Z-Crystals instead of badges, he would have a complete collection of Z-Crystals if he is this strong to earn that many badges.

She was so surprised by the numbers that she voiced out her thoughts.

Ash blush at the praise, "Thanks, Lillie." He said with a smile.

"Wow, Ash." Lillie said, still in awe. "No wonder Tapu Koko was interested in battling you! You have to be really strong to earn that many badges! You really deserved that Z-Ring. That is probably why Tapu Koko gave you it, right!?."

Lillie then covered her mouth with an eep, blushing madly. She sounded like a fan-girl!

Ash chuckled at her blushing form before looking at his left wrist.

"Probably." He said as he recalled his battle against Tapu Koko. It was an intense battle, if only he was able to do a Z-Move with Pikachu.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

Lillie's brother was still heading their way with his eyes looking towards at a certain direction. He did not broke his gaze until he saw a shadow was cast over him and his Pokémon. He and his Pokémon are way up in the sky and there is no visible cloud, so what is casting this shadow. Gladion look up...to see the form of a familiar-looking Bewear that was coming down at him with a Hammer Arm prepared. Luckily, Gladion's Braviary was too fast for the Strong Arm Pokémon, making it missed its target.

Gladion widened his eyes when he saw the attack that almost reached him, "What?"

The eldest child of Lusamine turned to where that Bewear landed at which was not a hard task since the Hammer Arm hit the ground which made large chunks of dirt fly around. Gladion was certainly surprised; he had trained with his mother's Bewear before and he had never saw it jump this high before. This is obviously not a regular Bewear you would encounter, especially a wild one.

Gladion glared at the Bewear. No Pokémon has ever gotten back up after getting knocked out by Null's Double Edge attack. Not only it had the strength to get back, but it was also able to catch up to him in short time.

He told his Braviary to land to where the Strong Arm Pokémon is at.

The Bewear, that familiarized itself with the TRio, was just about to jump into the sky again and hit that blonde jerk, but stopped when it noticed its hated target coming down. Bewear glared back when it saw Gladion glared at it.

Gladion slowly walks up to the Bewear as pulled out his partner's Pokéball.

"I admire your strength, you are definitely exceptional among others of your kind." He complimented it as he enlarges Null's Pokéball. "Although, I pity you. Do you have any idea who those people were? You poor fool."

He really does not understand why this Pokémon would associate itself with people who see Pokémon nothing more than tools.

Bewear was angered by his words, he ran up to the young man with a Hammer Arm prepared. However, Gladion was quick and let out his partner, who blocked the attack with his own body. The Hammer Arm made contact, but barely did any damage for it hit the helmet of its opponent.

The chimeric Pokémon stood his ground as it stood still, unfazed by the attack. Through the rectangular eye holes, he glared at the Strong Arm Pokémon, but barked as a way to show that he is also impressed by the Bewear's strength.

"Null, use Crush Claw."

Both of the chimeric Pokémon's green claws extended in length while they glowed crimson-red. Null swiped at the Strong Arm Pokémon, which made it wince in excruciation. There was certainly a lot power behind those claws. Null was about to swipe at it again, but Bewear was able to dodge on time, however it was grazed by the tips of the claws which made it wince in pain again.

Bewear hurriedly jumped away. The Strong Arm Pokémon really underestimated its opponent. It really did not learn from its first mistake when it was knocked out the first time it went up against this mysterious and grotesque-looking Pokémon. Bewear has fought a lot of wild Pokémon before in the past, but none of them were strong as this one. Its own ability, Fluffly, could only provide it little help against this Pokémon.

Also, that helmet is harder than any material its paws has broke through in the past. Clearly this chimeric Pokémon has advantage over both attack and defense, but what about speed? Thinking back, the only time Null showed his speed was when it used Double Edge, which is a move that gives the user a temporary speed boost while they used the attack.

"Let's finish this quick, Null." Gladion told his partner as place his left on his right eye. "Knock it out with Double Edge once more."

Bewear narrowed its glare when it saw the charging Type: Null. It may have underestimated its opponent's strength, but it knows enough not to use the same move that resulted in a lost. This time, the Strong Arm Pokémon took a fighting stance as it stand its ground while holding up a paw.

When Null came in close proximity, Bewear put every ounce of its strength into the Force Palm, which made Null stop in his tracks. Again, Bewear hit him in the helmet, but it was still enough to stop the Double Edge. The Strong Arm Pokémon smirked as next part of the attack kicked in, its paws gets covered in white energy which was soon unleashed as the attack pushed back Type: Null by a couple of feet.

Gladion was impressed.

"Well, aren't you smart?" He commented as he saw his partner winced as sparks were flying all over his body. _"This is definitely not an average Bewear. After just exchanging a couple of attacks, it was able to learn about Null's lacking speed and took advantage of it by making Null a sitting Psyduck."_

Bewear smirked before running at Null while preparing a Hammer Arm. There is no way it could break through that helmet, but what about attacking somewhere other than that thick helmet.

The young man growled, "Null, brace yourself!"

"Rah!" His partner roared. His movement was limited, but at least he can stand his ground the best he could. Null braced himself as he received the attack from the powerful Fighting-type attack.

Again, Bewear was surprised. Not only was it surprised by the hardness of Null's helmet, but also his entire body. Null's body may not be as hard as his helmet, but it was still durable enough to surprise the Strong Arm Pokémon.

"You have to hit harder than that." Gladion commented before giving out another command, "Use Metal Sound!"

Null's axe-like crest started vibrating rapidly which emitted white sound waves that makes an unbearable loud ringing sound that made Bewear cover its own ears. Bewear roared in agony as it jump away from the Synthetic Pokémon. Even with some distance between them, Bewear's ears are still in pain.

"Now, use Tri Attack!" Gladion does not miss a beat.

If his partner cannot use physical moves at their fullest due to the reduced speed, then they will have to go with long range attacks. Gladion knows Null is not much of a special attacker than a physical attacker, but Metal Sound helps with that little weakness. Messing with the opposition's sense of hearing was a bonus.

Three energy balls of different color, red, blue, and yellow, appeared in front of Null. The Synthetic Pokemon then lets out a roar as he let the attack strike; a stream of fire came from the red orb, a beam of ice from the blue orb, and electricity from the yellow orb. All three manage to hit the target easily because Bewear still felt the pain in its ears.

The attack made a small explosion, which covered Null's opponent in thick, black smoke. Silence soon took over as Gladion and Null did not see any movement even after the smoke started to clear out. Then suddenly, Bewear came out of the smoke at blinding speed.

"Be-wear!" It roared before latching itself onto Null by hugging around the helmet.

Now it was Gladion's turn to be surprised, "Null, quick! Use Metal Sound, once more!"

Before his partner could do so, a beam of energy appeared out of his body and into Bewear. Null growled lowly in having his energy sapped away. Gladion was familiar with the move. Annoyance fills him.

 _"It knows Pain Split? This is going harder than I thought."_ His partner may be strong, but even Null can fall victim to do this powerful and tricky move. All the damage they have inflicted were now wasted.

When Bewear was done with the move, it let go of Null and jumps away. It sighs in relief; usually it uses that move as a last-ditch effort to stay in battle.

Gladion grits his teeth as he growled in annoyance. "Alright Null, no more holding back. Use Flame Charge!"

Null roared as he gets engulf in a ball of fire. He then runs at Bewear at his currently reduced speed. As he continues to charge at it, his speed increases.

Bewear sweat dropped as he dodge the attack. It completely forgot that this Pokémon can use Flame Charge at their first encounter. This almost makes the paralysis status almost virtually useless if its opponent can raise his own speed again and again. Now its only hope that the paralysis stops some attacks.

"You're a fast one," Gladion commented. "but how long can you keep up that speed? Keep using Flame Charge."

* * *

 **With Ash and Lillie**

"Lillie! Wait up!" Ash yelled.

When the two students came into view of yellow flowers, Lillie instantly let go of Ash and ran up ahead. A smile stretches across the blonde girl's face when she saw the patch of familiar looking flowers. She looks around to make sure it was safe, which it was.

Lillie carefully put down the egg incubator before sitting down on her knees in front of the yellow flowers. She took a deep breathe, inhaling the scent of the flowers. She then sighs in bliss, the scent was just heavenly. The scent reminded Lillie of the day she first came to this place.

Ash walks up behind her, "Yellow flowers? Lillie, is this the Saffron-color flower you were talking about?"

"It is," Lillie happily answered as she carefully looks inside of the flower. She points at the yellow liquid that was inside. "See that? That's what makes Oricorio change into Pom-Pom style."

"Cool," Ash admired. It is stuff like this that makes Pokémon a lot more interesting. Looking around the beautiful garden of yellow flowers, he had a half a mind to suggest that they have their picnic, but remember that there might be wild Oricorio around.

Wait a minute...

Looking around once more, Ash noticed something was missing. If Oricorio are dependent on these flowers...

"Where are the Oricorio?"

"Hmmm?"

* * *

 **Some of you readers might have found it weird that I referred Bewear as 'it' while I referred Null as 'him.' Honestly, I do not know why they made Type: Null a genderless Pokémon species despite it looks normal; I know it is artificially made, but come on. I honestly do not know Team Rocket's Bewear's gender is nor I think about it. That's how I'll work, so don't complain.**


	14. (Unfinnished)

**Sorry for the lack of updates, but I'm busy with my personal life right now. Also, I have a writer's block right now. Sorry for the inconvenience, I hope this barely finished chapter makes up for it. Hopefully by Thanksgiving or Christmas I'll be in the mode for some writing.**

 **(11/11/17): Updated, but not complete the chapter.**

* * *

Lillie looked around the flower garden, noticing the Pokémon that should be frolicking around. She grew nervous by how empty the area is. From her knowledge, the Saffron-color flowers are not only the Oricorio's source changing forms, but it is also their favorite kinds of nectar to consume so the area should not be so deserted.

She tried thinking up of a possible answer, "Hmmmm, perhaps the Oricorios must have went to the other islands. The flowers come in different colors as well in taste, so they probably wanted a change to what they usual have."

Ash agreed with her theory, but was not a hundred percent sure on that. There should be at last couple of the bird Pokémon around here. He decided it is probably not a problem, so he calmed down a bit.

The raven haired teen then bents down and picked one of the flowers. He smiled after getting a whiff of the flower's scent.

"These smell great. I betcha my mom would like to grow these in her garden." Ash commented.

Lillie giggled at little, "No offense to your mother's skills in horticulture or anything, but these flowers are hard to grow by hand. Also, Saffron-colors flowers are undoubtedly the most beautiful when they grow in the wild."

Ash turned to her, chuckling. "Obviously you never met my mom." He then slightly grimaced when he suddenly remembered the times he had to help his mom in their garden against his will.

Lillie noticed him cringe, "Are okay?"

Ash push the memories of lugging around tons of lawn fertilizer all day to the back of his head. He gives her an assuring smile.

"Yeah. Just thinking back." He said with a sheepish grin.

"Thinking back?" Lillie repeated with curiosity. "To what?"

Ash chuckled nervously, not really willing to her the times he helped his mom.

"Nothing important. Forget about it." He said as he focused his attention to the flower in his hand. The raven haired teen looks at it for a moment before looking back at Lillie, then at the flower, and then finally at Lillie. He smiled.

Lillie slightly raises an eyebrow when she notices his odd behavior.

"Is something wrong, Ash?"

Instead of answering, Ash shortens the gap between as he went closer to her. Lillie blush slightly by how close he is getting to her. In her mind, she thought Ash was going to kiss her again. On instinct, Lillie pucker up her lips with hesitation. Even with her eyes closed, Lillie could feel how close Ash is getting as her blush brightens.

"There. It looks good on you."

"Huh?"

When she realized Ash was not going for a kiss, Lillie opened her eyes, but the blush stayed due to embarrassment. Lillie then felt her head feel a little heavier on one side and something was tucked behind her left ear. The blonde bookworm reached behind her ear and felt what it was.

Her face brighten a little more. "A flower?"

Ash smiles at her, "Yeah and it looks great on you. I think so." He then notices Lillie turned her head away from him. "Lillie?"

"Did...did Mallow tell you?" Her voice was cracking, like she was embarrassed.

Ash blinks in confusion, "Tell me what?"

Lillie was reluctant at first when she considered telling him.

"Can you keep a secret?"

* * *

 **Back with Gladion**

Bewear panted after dodging its opponent that is still encased in a ball of fire. After the continuous use of Flame Charge, Null now rivals the Bewears in terms of speed and the intense heat radiating from the Fire type move is making the Strong Arm Pokémon hard of breathing, making its movement slightly slower and shaky.

Gladion could tell the Bewear will not last much longer. He did not this lower his guard, it still could use the move Pain Split, which he saw it about to do as the Bewear tried to grapple Null again like last time.

"I don't think, so!" Gladion yelled as he raises his hand. "Metal Sound!"

"Rah!" Null growled as his crest started to vibrate again, letting loose the painful sound that only Pokémon can hear.

Bewear stopped midway, getting down to his knees as he clenched his ears tight with his paws.

"Let's end this! Null, use Air Slash."

A light blue energy ball formed on top of his partner's helmet. Null let loose his attack at the opposition as a barrage of blades made out of wind came out from the orb before going after the Bewear that is still in pain.

Being part Fighting type, the Flying type attack was very effective plus Bewear's lowered special defense. After being attacked, the Bewear remained sitting on its knees, completely motionless.

Gladion walked up and stopped next to his partner as they both carefully examine the Bewear.

After a long and silent moment, the Bewear started to stand, albeit weakly, before going into a fighting stance. Bewear glared at the two, but mostly at Gladion. The only son of the president of the Aether Foundation glared back.

Bewear glared with the hate it could muster while Gladion gave it his usual glaring expression. He was not very impressed.

"And here I thought you'd at least give us a decent fight." Gladion said as he disses the wild Pokémon. "Null, Double Edge."

* * *

 **Back with Ash and Lillie**

"It's not funny!" Lillie yelled as she glared at Ash, who is laughing hysterically.

The raven haired teen continued to laugh at her. Lillie blush, not out of just embarrassment, but also anger. The blonde bookworm pouted as she huff a puff of breathe and turn around.

* * *

 **Heh~ What do think the secret that Lillie told Ash? Thank god, finally some holiday breaks coming soon.**


	15. Hiatus

**Hello everyone,**

 **I really did not want to break my promise, but I'm sorry. I'm putting this fic on hold (for now). I simply too busy with college and work. I welcome those who want to write their own spin on my fic, just as long they talk to me first and credit me.**

 **Until then, farewell.**


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